Hosts Pakistan Seeded To Retain World Team Title

Hosts Pakistan are seeded to retain the title they won two years ago in India when the PIA Men's World Junior Team Championship gets underway today at the new Mushaf Squash Complex in Islamabad.

With six players through to last week's individual quarter-finals - two of whom inevitably missed selection for the country's four-man squad - Pakistan will be confident to claim the biennial title for the third time since the inaugural event in 1980.

Egypt, winners of the title in 1994, are the second seeds and expected to meet the hosts in Saturday's final. The squad will be led by the newly-crowned World Individual champion Ramy Ashour.

The seeding committee have also concluded that England will not reach the final for the first time since 1988. The four-times winners of the title are seeded three and will head Pool C.

Australia, the record five-times world junior team champions, are ninth seeds, and join fourth seeds Germany in Pool D.

The 22 nations competing in the event are (with seedings in brackets):

Pool A:
[1] PAKISTAN; [12] WALES; [13/18] SWITZERLAND

Pool B:
[2] EGYPT; [11] NETHERLANDS; [13/18] MEXICO; [19/22] KENYA

Pool C:
[3] ENGLAND; [10] MALAYSIA; [13/18] USA; [19/22] IRAN

Pool D:
[4] GERMANY; [9] AUSTRALIA; [13/18] SCOTLAND

Pool E:
[5] INDIA; [8] NEW ZEALAND; [13/18] IRELAND; [19/22] SINGAPORE

Pool F:
[6] KUWAIT; [7] CANADA; [13/18] HONG KONG; [19/22] ZIMBABWE