12:00 am
5 Dec 2024

Egypt & Pakistan To Contest World Championship Final In Zurich

7 Aug 2008

Favourites Egypt, the defending champions, and second seeds Pakistan will line-up for the final of the Men's World Junior Team Championship in Zurich - their second successive meeting in the climax - after comfortable semi-final wins in the biennial World Squash Federation championship being held for the first time in Switzerland.

But Egypt started off on the back foot against third seeds England when Adrian Waller battled for 90 minutes for the underdogs - twice coming from behind to beat Egyptian Andrew Wagih Shoukry 4-9, 9-6, 6-9, 9-6, 10-8 to put the former champions ahead.

Egypt soon recovered from the setback of their first match loss in the event when new world champion Mohamed El Shorbagy beat England number one Joe Lee 9-7, 9-6, 9-4 in 45 minutes to draw level.

The decider was an equally fiercely-fought encounter - but Amr Khaled Khalifa was ultimately too strong for Alex Ingham, beating the youngest member of the England squad 9-6, 9-6, 9-3 in 58 minutes to put Egypt back into the final for the third time in a row.

After the elation of reaching the semi-finals for the first time in history, fifth seeds India were brought down to earth by second seeds Pakistan - losing 3/0 to their Asian rivals. Waqar Mehboob put 2006 runners-up Pakistan ahead with a 9-0, 7-9, 10-8, 9-0 victory over Aditya Jagtap - and world individual championship runner-up Aamir Atlas Khan sealed victory for the second seeds by overcoming fellow top string Vikram Malhotra 9-0, 9-3, 9-0.

In the best-of-three-games third match, Mohd Shoaib Hassan made it 3/0 by beating Ravi Dixit 9-1, 9-0.

In the 5th-8th place play-offs, seventh seeds Germany upset France, the fourth seeds, 2/1 to set up a play-off for fifth place against Malaysia, the sixth seeds who beat tenth seeds Canada 2/1.

Semi-finals:
[1] EGYPT bt [3] ENGLAND 2-1
Andrew Wagih Shoukry lost to Adrian Waller 9-4, 6-9, 9-6, 6-9, 8-10 (90m)
Mohamed El Shorbagy bt Joe Lee 9-7, 9-6, 9-4 (45m)
Amr Khaled Khalifa bt Alex Ingham 9-6, 9-6, 9-3 (58m)
[2] PAKISTAN bt [5] INDIA 3-0
Waqar Mehboob bt Aditya Jagtap 9-0, 7-9, 10-8, 9-0 (43m)
Aamir Atlas Khan bt Vikram Malhotra 9-0, 9-3, 9-0 (25m)
Mohd Shoaib Hassan bt Ravi Dixit 9-1, 9-0 (16m)

5th - 8th place play-offs:
[6] MALAYSIA bt [10] CANADA 2-1
Mithran Selvaratnam bt Nicholas Sachvie 1-9, 2-9, 9-3, 9-3, 9-6 (70m)
Ivan Yuen bt Kelly Shannon 3-9, 7-9, 9-2, 9-1, 10-9 (80m)
Jo Wen Ng lost to Fred Reid 3-9, 6-9
[7] GERMANY bt [4] FRANCE 2-1
Rudi Rohrmuller bt Lucas Vauzelle 9-7, 10-9, 3-9, 8-10, 9-5 (81m)
Raphael Kandra lost to Gregoire Marche 3-9, 1-9, 3-9 (39m)
Norman Junge bt Lucas Serme 9-5, 9-1, 9-4 (53m)

9th - 12th place play-offs:
[12] USA bt [9] NEW ZEALAND 2-1
Alex Domenick lost to Keegan Burkhart 3-9, 8-9, 8-10 (44m)
Todd Harrity bt Evan Williams 9-0, 9-1, 9-1 (26m)
Thomas Mattsson bt Cameron Jamieson 9-5, 9-6, 9-4 (47m)
[11] AUSTRALIA bt [8] HONG KONG 2-1
Jacob Alexander bt Nelson Chan 9-4, 9-5, 9-3 (30m)
Matthew Hopkin lost to Leo Au 5-9, 6-9, 2-9 (32m)
Aaron Fyfe bt Fung Ji Yang 9-3, 9-3, 9-4 (34m)

13th - 16th place play-offs:
[13] SOUTH AFRICA bt [15] KUWAIT 2-1
Reinhold Hergeth lost to Shamlan A Ali 9-10, 4-9, 7-9 (39m)
Thoboki Mohohlo bt Mohammed Al Tawari 9-3, 9-3, 9-3 (42m)
Wian Louwrens bt Ahmad Al-Randi 1-9, 9-2, 9-3, 9-7 (57m)
[14] SWITZERLAND bt [17/24] FINLAND 3-0
Jonas Daehler bt Ville Hiltunen 9-4, 9-1, 9-0 (22m)
Nicolas Mueller bt Henrik Mustonen 9-6, 7-9, 9-2, 9-3 (49m)
Lukas Burkhart bt Joonas Honkanen 9-0, 9-0 (21m)

17th - 20th place play-offs:
[17/24] DENMARK bt [17/24] SPAIN 2-1
Lau Ulrik Kiehn bt Daniel Pascual Martinez 9-6, 9-1, 9-7 (32m)
Casper Grauballe lost to Damian Arosa Rodriguez 6-9, 7-9, 0-9 (35m)
Philip Tran bt Hugo Varela Campo 9-5, 9-4, 9-0 (25m)
[17/24] BELGIUM bt [17/24] CZECH REPUBLIC 2-1
Tom de Mulder lost to Daniel Mekbib 9-2, 4-9, 4-9, 1-9 (43m)
Sam van Brusselen bt Roman Svec 10-8, 9-1, 9-1 (33m)
Laurens Mostmans bt Zbynek Standera 9-7, 5-9, 9-2, 9-1 (51m)

21st - 24th place play-offs:
[16] WALES bt [17/24] NETHERLANDS 2-1
David Haley lost to Tim van der Pluijm 9-5, 8-10, 1-9, 4-9 (56m)
Hywel Robinson bt Rick Penders 9-6, 5-9, 9-4, 9-3 (45m)
Sam Huxtable bt Marc ter Sluis 9-3, 9-1, 9-2 (35m)
[17/24] SWEDEN bt [17/24] GUATEMALA 2-1
Alex Christensson bt Roberto Rodriguez 9-2, 9-2, 9-5 (35m)
Johan Detter bt Mauricio Sedano 9-4, 8-10, 9-7, 9-6 (89m)
Truls Olterman lost to Bryan Bonilla 8-10, 4-9 (22m)

25th - 28th place play-offs:
[25/31] ECUADOR bt [25/31] BERMUDA 2-1
Francisco Alvaro Asimbaya bt Micah Franklin 9-7, 9-3, 9-8
Daniel Cueva Mosquera lost to Robert Maycock 4-9, 0-9, 0-9 (22m)
Orlando Rodriguez Ordonez bt Noah DaBell 9-0, 9-2, 9-0
[25/31] IRELAND bt [25/31] VENEZUELA 3-0
Alan Tighe bt Alejandro Suarez 9-2, 9-2, 9-0 (21m)
Colm Dolan bt Daniel Prato 9-6, 9-0, 9-4 (30m)
Kevin Davey bt Wilfredo Arcia 9-0, 9-4 (15m)

29th - 31st place play-offs:
[25/31] ITALY bye
[25/31] CAYMAN ISLANDS bt [25/31] CHINA 3-0
Cameron Stafford bt Wang Jun Jie 9-1, 9-1, 9-2 (20m)
Jake Kelly bt Xiaomin Meng 6-9, 5-9, 9-7, 9-0, 9-5 (41m)
Ryan McConvey bt Shen Jia Qi 9-0, 9-0