RESULTS: Big Time World Team Squash Championship, Islamabad, Pakistan
Quarter-finals:
[1] ENGLAND bt [8] WALES 3-0 (James Willstrop bt David Evans 9-4, 9-7, 9-4; Nick Matthew bt Ricky Davies 9-3, 9-2, 9-2; Lee Beachill bt Gavin Jones 9-0, 9-5)
[5] CANADA bt [4] AUSTRALIA 2-1 (Jonathon Power bt Anthony Ricketts 1-9, 9-3, 9-4, 9-3; Shahier Razik bt Joseph Kneipp 1-9, 9-7, 9-1, 9-5; Graham Ryding lost to Stewart Boswell 3-9, 7-9)
[3] FRANCE bt [7] PAKISTAN 2-1 (Thierry Lincou bt Shahid Zaman 10-8, 9-3, 2-9, 9-4; Renan Lavigne lost to Farhan Mehboob 1-9, 6-9, 9-4, 5-9; Gregory Gaultier bt Mansoor Zaman 9-2, 7-9, 9-4, 9-1)
[2] EGYPT bt [6] MALAYSIA 3-0 (Amr Shabana bt Mohd Azlan Iskandar 9-0, 8-10, 9-7, 9-4; Mohammed Abbas bt Mohd Nafiizwan Adnan 9-0, 9-0, 9-0; Karim Darwish bt Ong Beng Hee w/o)
13th - 20th place play-offs:
[13/18] KUWAIT bt [19/22] IRAN 2-1 (Abdullah Almezayen bt Majid Rohani 9-1, 9-1, 9-7; Omar Al Jamaan lost to Mohamad Hassan Jafari 6-9, 3-9, 6-9; Nasser Al Ramezi bt Poya Ahmad Abadi 9-1, 9-2, 9-1)
[13/18] SCOTLAND bt [13/18] FINLAND 3-0 (John White bt Olli Tuominen 5-9, 9-5, 9-6, 9-1; Stuart Crawford bt Hameed Ahmed 9-3, 3-9, 10-9, 9-6; Harry Leitch bt Matias Tuomi 9-6, 9-4)
[19/22] USA bt [13/18] IRELAND 2-1 (Preston Quick lost to Liam Kenny 2-9, 2-9, 0-9; Christopher Gordon bt Neal Murphy 9-3, 9-6, 9-6; Julian Illingworth bt Arthur Gaskin 9-0, 9-0, 9-5)
[11] NEW ZEALAND bt [19/22] SPAIN 2-1 (Kashif Shuja lost to Borja Golan 3-9, 5-9, 9-10; Campbell Grayson bt Alejandro Garbi Caro 9-5, 9-1, 3-9, 9-3; Callum O'Brien bt David Vidal Villamide 9-3, 9-3, 9-3)
Canada Shock Champions Australia
Defending champions Australia, the fourth seeds, failed to reach the semi-finals for only the second time in the event's 38-year history when they were beaten 2/1 by fifth seeds Canada in a major upset in today's (Monday) quarter-finals of the Big Time World Team Squash Championships in Islamabad, Pakistan.
Canada's top string Jonathon Power set the wheels of an upset in motion when, in his first appearance in this year's event, he recovered from a game down to beat the Australian number one Anthony Ricketts, ranked three in the world, 1-9 9-3 9-4 9-3. Next in action for the underdogs was 28-year-old Torontonian Shahier Razik, who also had to fight back from a game down before beating Australia's third string Joseph Kneipp 1-9 9-7 9-1 9-5 to clinch victory for Canada.
Former world No4 Stewart Boswell provided small consolation for the title-holders when he beat Canada's experience number two Graham Ryding 9-3 9-7 in the final 'dead' rubber.
The defeat highlighted the significance of David Palmer's absence from the Australian squad. The world No4, who was banned for a year by the World Squash Federation following his behaviour at last December's World Doubles Championships in India, would have represented the most powerful second string in the Islamabad event.
Canada will now be England's surprise opponents in the semi-finals. The favourites cruised to a 3/0 win over eighth seeds Wales – top string James Willstrop beating former British Open champion David Evans 9-4 9-7 9-4, and fellow Yorkshireman Nick Matthew defeating Ricky Davies 9-3 9-2 9-2, before the squad's third Yorkshireman Lee Beachill, the squad No2, despatched Gavin Jones 9-0 9-5 in the best-of-three dead rubber.
The other semi-final will feature second seeds Egypt and third seeds France. Egypt's new World Open champion Amr Shabana dropped his first game of the tournament as he battled to a 9-0 8-10 9-7 9-4 win over Mohd Azlan Iskandar – but team-mate Mohammed Abbas refused his opponent Mohd Nafiizwan Adnan a single point as Egypt cruised to victory over sixth seeds Malaysia.
France were made to work hard in the other quarter-final by hosts Pakistan: World number one Thierry Lincou survived a tough test by Pakistan's Shahid Zaman, winning 10-8 9-3 2-9 9-4 – but team-mate Renan Lavigne went down 1-9 6-9 9-4 5-9 to Farhan Mehboob, leaving the decider in the hands of the second strings.
Spurred on by the partisan crowd, Mansoor Zaman recovered from a first game lead established by Frenchman Gregory Gaultier to level the match at one-all. But, when playing for his country, Gaultier can lift his game to the highest level – and the 22-year-old from did just this as he stormed to a 9-2 7-9 9-4 9-1 victory and put France into the last four.
Semi-finals:
[1] ENGLAND v [5] CANADA; [2] EGYPT v [3] FRANCE
5th - 8th place play-offs:
[8] WALES v [4] AUSTRALIA; [6] MALAYSIA v [7] PAKISTAN
9th - 12th place play-offs:
[10] INDIA v [13/18] GERMANY; [9] NETHERLANDS v [12] SOUTH AFRICA
13th - 16th place play-offs:
[13/18] KUWAIT v [13/18] SCOTLAND; [11] NEW ZEALAND v [19/22] USA
17th - 20th place play-offs:
[13/18] FINLAND v [19/22] IRAN; [13/18] IRELAND v [19/22] SPAIN
Official website: http://www.mtc.paksquash.com/