Finland Flourish Marks Return To World Top Eight
19 Aug 2014
Exactly 20 years after last making the quarter-finals of the WSF Men's World Junior Team Squash Championship, Finland marked their return to the top eight after beating Colombia 2/1 in the 1st-12th place play-offs in the biennial World Squash Federation event being staged at the Wanderers Sports Club in the Namibia capital Windhoek.
After his younger brother Miko Aijanen went down in five games to Colombia's Dairo Sandoval, Finnish number one Jami Aijanen led his team to success with a 61-minute 11-8, 9-11, 11-9, 11-9 win over Andres Felipe Herrera (both pictured in action below).
Finland, who finished in 16th place in their last appearance in the championship in 2008, will be hoping to emulate their fourth place finish in 1994 in New Zealand when they take on Pakistan in the quarter-finals.
Second seeds Pakistan, champions in 2008, are bidding to make the final for the seventh time in a row since 2002.
It was in 2000 that Spain last finished in the top eight, in Italy, equalling their best-ever fifth place finish. The team celebrated their return to the quarter-finals in Windhoek after seeing off Israel 2/1, following Spanish victories by Iker Pajares Bernabeu and Bernat Jaume.
1st - 12th place play-offs:
[8] IRELAND v [13/15] FRANCE (tie unfinished)
[6] SPAIN bt [11] ISRAEL 2/1
Edmon Lopez Moller lost to Daniel Poleshchuk 5-11, 6-11, 6-11 (29m)
Iker Pajares Bernabeu bt Roee Avraham 11-4, 11-9, 11-7 (41m)
Bernat Jaume bt Nir Cohen 11-4, 11-5, 11-4 (26m)
[5] MALAYSIA bt [12] USA 2/1
Mohd Syafiq Kamal bt Derek Hsue 9-11, 11-4, 11-7, 11-8 (42m)
Eain Yow Ng bt Mason Ripka 11-9, 11-3, 11-4 (35m)
Darren Chan lost to Timothy Robert Brownell 8-11, 3-11, 9-11 (39m)
[7] FINLAND bt [9] COLOMBIA 2/1
Jami Aijanen bt Andres Felipe Herrera 11-8, 9-11, 11-9, 11-9 (61m)
Kristian Rautiainen bt Santiago Orozco 11-6, 11-8, 11-3 (33m)
Miko Aijanen lost to Dairo Sandoval 8-11, 4-11, 11-9, 11-8, 8-11 (60m)
13th - 23rd place play-offs:
[16/18] NEW ZEALAND bt [22/23] NAMIBIA 3/0
Scott Galloway bt Michael van Lingen 11-6, 1-11, 11-2, 11-6 (26m)
Max Trimble bt Le Hugo van Rooyen 11-8, 13-11 (19m)
Chapman Kutia bt George Diederik Bekker 11-0, 11-1, 11-3
[16/18] SOUTH AFRICA bt [22/23] BOTSWANA 3/0
Aubrey Lawrence bt Theo Pelonomi 11-5, 11-7, 11-4
Jean-Pierre van de Merwe bt Elliot Msindisi Sibanda 11-1, 11-0 (9m)
Wayne Sithole bt Micky Joseph 11-2, 11-1, 11-7 (20m)
[19/21] SWEDEN bt [19/21] GUATEMALA 2/1
Pontus Rengbo bt Ricardo Toscano 11-8, 11-6, 6-11, 11-1 (41m)
Tor Christoffersen bt Qaini Bonilla 11-1, 11-4, 6-11, 11-6 (35m)
Alexander Lundqvist lost to Junior Alejandro Enriquez 11-7, 6-11, 5-11, 7-11 (34m)
