WORLD SQUASH NEWS

RESULTS: PIA Men's World Junior Team Squash Championship, Islamabad, Pakistan

Final:
[1] PAKISTAN bt [2] EGYPT 2-1 (Khalid Atlas Khan lost to Ramy Ashour 6-9, 6-9, 9-2, 7-9; Yasir Butt bt Omar Abu Zid 9-4, 3-9, 9-4, 9-1; Farhan Mehboob bt Mahmoud Adel 9-2, 9-4, 9-0)

3rd place play-off:
[3] ENGLAND bt [6] KUWAIT 2-1 (Chris Simpson lost to Abdul Khalid Mazayin 6-9, 1-9, 0-9; Joel Hinds bt Salem Faiz Mohammed 9-2, 9-5, 9-5; James Wright bt Ali B Al-Ramzi 9-2, 9-2, 9-2)

5th place play-off:
[5] INDIA bt [4] GERMANY 2-0 (Saurav Ghosal bt Simon Rosner 9-2, 6-9, 4-9, 9-6, 10-8; Sandeep Jangra bt Pascal Tayaz 9-1, 5-9, 9-5, 9-2)

7th place play-off:
[8] NEW ZEALAND bt [7] CANADA 2-1 (Campbell Grayson bt Robin Clarke 9-0, 9-1, 9-4; Michael Bill lost to Keith Pritchard 2-9, 4-9, 3-9; Whaiora Moeke bt Michael Auer 8-10, 9-0, 9-7, 5-9, 9-3)

9th place play-off:
[10] MALAYSIA bt [12] WALES 2-1 (Mohd Nafiizwan Adnan bt Lewys Hurst 9-4, 2-9, 6-9, 9-2, 9-2; Elvinn Keo lost to Rob Wilkins 9-2, 6-9, 6-9, 9-7, 8-10; Muhammad Azfar Azan bt Peter Creed 9-6, 9-1, 7-9, 9-0)

11th place play-off:
[9] AUSTRALIA bt [13/18] MEXICO 2-0 (Matthew Karwalski bt Erick Tepos 10-8, 9-7, 4-9, 9-7; Andrew Budd bt Edmundo Garcia 4-9, 9-1, 9-1, 9-1)

13th place play-off:
[13/18] HONG KONG bt [13/18] USA 2-1 (Dick Lau lost to Christopher Gordon 0-9, 7-9, 3-9; Ho Fai Chui bt Suleyman Saleem 9-0, 9-1, 9-1; Anson Kwong bt Garnett Booth 9-4, 9-3, 9-3)

15th place play-off:
[13/18] SWITZERLAND bt [11] NETHERLANDS 2-0 (Kevin Brechbuhl bt Martijn Kock 7-9, 9-3, 0-9, 9-6, 9-2;
Benjamin Fischer bt Marc Te Witt 9-1, 9-2, 9-6)

17th place play-off:
[13/18] SCOTLAND bt [19/22] SINGAPORE w/o

19th place play-off:
[13/18] IRELAND bt [19/22] ZIMBABWE 2-1 (Samuel Olwill lost to Craig Heath 9-4, 8-10, 5-9, 0-9; Brian Healy bt Mark Assaraf 4-9, 9-0, 9-2, 9-5; Niall Caheny bt Casper Coetzee 9-2, 9-5, 5-9, 10-8)

21st place play-off:
[19/22] IRAN bt [19/22] KENYA 2-1 (Masud Ekhlas lost to Amar Shah 4-9, 1-9, 2-9; Babak Shahabi bt Poojan Dodhia 9-0, 9-0, 9-0; Mohammad Jafari bt Ronak Shah 9-2, 9-1, 9-4)

Hosts Pakistan Retain World Junior Title

Hosts Pakistan, the top seeds, successfully defended their title in front of a joyous home crowd at the Mushaf Squash Complex in Islamabad when they beat second seeds Egypt 2-1 in today's (Saturday) final of the PIA Men's World Junior Team Squash Championship.

The opening match saw home favourite Khalid Atlas Khan taking on Egypt's newly-crowned world individual champion Ramy Ashour.  Khalid, who has not played too well over the past two weeks, put on a much better performance this time - but again the Egyptian wizard showed his ability to come back - from 1-6 in the first game to 9-6, then 2-6 in the second, though not so smoothly, to 9-6.

Khalid was particularly successful in dealing with Ashour's lobs in the third - which got him the game - but it was to no avail as the champion ultimately triumphed 9-6 9-6 2-9 9-7.

Pakistan drew level in the second match when Yasir Butt beat Omar Abu Zid.  Perhaps as a result of having been unwell, Abu Zid clearly ran out of steam as the game progressed and, though he earned full marks for fighting, the result was never really in doubt as Butt prevailed 9-4 3-9 9-4 9-1.

The decider featured Farhan Mehboob against Egypt's Mahmoud Adel.  Left-hander Mehboob was inspired, and shot through the first game making his opponent look cumbersome.  The second game saw some great play from the Pakistani as he opened a 5-0 lead which he soon converted to 9-4.  The crowd of both adults and kids were going berserk - and the hero did not let them down, sealing it quickly 9-0 against a despondent Egyptian.

Pakistan's President Musharaf arrived to give away the prizes in an impressive ceremony.  He also increased the Pakistan Squash Federation President's two million rupees to the team to five million - and offered any Pakistani world champion a personal one million!!!  He spoke strongly in support of sport, and in particular squash, as a social player himself!

England won the bronze medal after beating Kuwait 2-1 in the play-off for third place.  Reece Williams of New Zealand won the fair play award for the tournament.