India Make History By Reaching First World Final At World Cup

Hosts India and top seeds Hong Kong will compete for the SDAT World Cup title after India blew away defending champions Egypt while Hong Kong were saved by a valiant rescue from Alex Lau and Ka Yi Lee as the pre-tournament favourites recovered from 0/2 down against Japan in Express Avenue Mall in Chennai.

The hosts' success takes India into their first ever World team squash final after previous best-ever 5th place finish in senior championships and 3rd place in world junior championships.

India came into their tie with unfinished business after falling agonisingly short in 2023, also in Chennai, when they exited in the semi-finals.

This time, though, they made no mistake.

The four-player team, including three Chennai locals, made an ideal start to the tie against Egypt through Velavan Senthilkumar.

The Indian National Champion looked a cut above his opponent Ibrahim Elkabbani, dominating court and opponent to win 3/0.

Match two was an epic between Anahat Singh and Nour Heikal.

Singh, 17, struggled against Heikal's power and attacking boasts in game one, with the Egyptian taking the opener via tie break 7-6.

Singh recovered impeccably, though, showing grit and flair in equal measure as she charged back in a thrilling five game win.

This put India in a commanding position, with India Men's No.1 Abhay Singh coming in in the third match.

His opponent, rising teen star Adam Hawal, dug in fiercely and briefly threatened to spoil India's party, before Singh got his team over the line 7-5, 6-7, 7-5, 7-6 to the delight of the crowd.

Afterwards, India National Coach Harinder Pal Sandhu said: "This was a very big win for us. We were seeded higher, but in a World Cup when you're playing for your country, everyone is going to come in to challenge you!"

Hong Kong meanwhile, edged past Japan - who had downed No.3 seeds Malaysia in the quarter-finals - on countback as an inspired performance from Lau and a calm showing from Lee.

Japan rocked the top seeds with a one-two punch at the beginning of the tie.

World No.114 Tomotaka Endo, whose solitary game win in a 3/1 loss against Mohammad Syafiq Kamal in the last match of their tie yesterday sent Japan through, stunned world No.54 Henry Leung - who has struggled in Chennai - in the opener by coming back from two games down to win 3/2.

Then, world No.6 Satomi Watanabe took down Tomato Ho without dropping a game to put Japan two matches ahead with a four-game cushion.

Fortunately for Hong Kong, Lau - who has grown into the tournament - put in his finest performance of the week so far. The 29-year-old world No.42 covered every inch of the court as he hounded world No.56 Ryunosuke Tsukue, recording a dominant 7-2, 7-3, 7-5 win.

That Lau win swung the odds back in Hong Kong's favour, with the fourth match pitting his teammate, world No.37 Ka Yi Lee, against world No.103 Akari Midorikawa. A 3/0 or 3/1 win for Lee would hand her side the win, while a tight 3/2 victory would see the tie decided on points count-back. Midorikawa, meanwhile, would clinch the tie for Japan with a shock win against the player ranked 66 places above her.

The fiery Japan No.2, whose two game wins in a 3/2 defeat to world No.33 Aifa Azman yesterday set Japan on the way to a countback victory, briefly threatened to pull off a miracle when she levelled at 1/1 after Lee had taken game one.

Lee, however, weathered the storm and began to control the court, camping on 'the T' and dragging Midorikawa to the front and back as she clinched the match with ultimately comfortable 7-3, 7-2 wins.

Afterwards, Lee said: "I can't say it is only my effort. My whole team gave a good effort, especially Lau winning 3/0, it took away a lot of pressure from me.

Lau added: "I am really happy with my performance today, only two mistakes from me is incredible!

"I hung in there and the pressure was huge; I just didn't want to give up on any points!"