Fri 28th July

Egypt win it at the death
David Wiltshire reports

Egypt claimed their second World Junior Team Championship in a dramatic final against Pakistan in Palmerston North.

Double individual champion Ramy Ashour put Egypt ahead, Farhan Mehboob levelled for Pakistan to set up a dramatic decider which Omar Mosaad took 10-8 in the fifth.

The first match between Ashour and Khan went to four games, in a tight battle which ended somewhat controversially when Irish referee Jack Allen called Khan for time-wasting with the score at 9-8, handing the match to Ashour. Khan was suffering from cramp from the point before and requested time to recover, this was denied by the official.

The second match between Tarek Momen and Farhan Mehboob was a see-saw battle between two evenly matched players. The advantage swung back and forth several times during the match which eventually saw Mehboob wear down his opponent to win.

Now with the tie level it was up to Yasir Butt and Omar Mosaad to decide the match and the world champions. Butt gave his all, however it wasn’t quite enough to defeat the in-form Mosaad in a match that went the full five games, with the Egyptian taking the final game 10-8.

Egyptian coach Aamir Wagih thanked Allah immediately after the final as emotions overflowed following the winning point.

Omar Mosaad, accepting the trophy on behalf of the Egypt team thanked his coach and team-mates for their support and the people of Palmerston North for their welcoming hospitality over the last two weeks.

Malaysia crowned a sensational two weeks in New Zealand by beating four-times champions England in the play-off for third place. Originally seeded seventh in the event, the Malaysian squad were elevated to fourth seeds after their showing in the individual event – then battled to a surprise 2/1 win over the third seeds. With a previous best finish of sixth in 13 appearances in the event since 1982, their bronze medal victory in Palmerston North was a notable triumph for the young team.
 

The team No.1 Sandeep Jangra, No. 2 Harinder Pal Singh, No.3 Naresh Kumar, and No.4 Vikram Malhotra (eligible for next world championships) have shown that hard work pays off and all the players deserve a pat on their back for this outstanding achievement. Attaining the 6th position is certainly a remarkable achievement.

Coach's Comments:
Barry got away this year: we will come back harder next time ...

Indian supporters from Levin Intermediate school

Thu 27th July

Trevor Borland reports

Today Team Canada was playing for a chance to get into the 5/6 playoff at the World Junior Men’s Championships.
 

First up on the glass court today at noon was the number 1 players for each country. Keith Pritchard for Canada up against Sandeep Jangra for India. Pritchard, who has been solid as a rock for the Canadians, had another strong start to the match. He kept the ball nice and tight early on, leaving the Indian guessing x-court on several great down the wall drives from the front. While the game went back and fourth for the first few minutes, Pritchard then took control and ran away with the first game by a score of 9-2.

Pritchard kept it up in the second controlling the first half of the game with great pressure volleys and a few unforced errors from Jangra. However, Pritchard started playing the ball short a little too often and Jangra worked his way back to 5-7. At that point Jangra was called for a foot fault which there has actually been plenty of at these championships. The Canadian took advantage and quickly won the 2nd by a score of 9-6. The third game saw a strong start by Jangra as he raced out to a 5-1 lead with several short rallies which ended in winners from Jangra. At that point Pritchard bore down and picked up the pace while lengthening the rallies. He managed to tie the game at five where they stayed for quite a while. After gaining a two point lead a no let call and a stroke won Jangra the game.

We were starting to get nervous now as they headed into the 4th. After a good start by Pritchard, Jangra began to take control. With several great gets from both players the game was tied at 6 a piece, which soon turned into 8-7 game ball India.

However, at this point Pritchard showed why he has won three straight national championships in Canada. He played composed squash and upped the pressure again. This led to two no lets and a tin from Jangra which gave Pritchard a 10-8 victory and a one match lead for Canada.

Next up were the #3’s. David Glass took to the court for Canada while India countered with Naresh Kumar. The start of this match was somewhat scrappy with both players hitting with pace but coughing up several loose balls. Tied at three in the first, a winner and 5 straight unforced errors from Glass quickly ended the first game 9-3 India.

The second game saw Glass come out much more composed and keeping his shots much tighter. The lack of unforced errors in this game combined with some nice finishing drops allowed Glass to handily win the second 9-1. However in the third Glass let a few to many distraction frustrate him which ended up hurting him. Both players were satisfied to hit plenty of length and retrieve while not playing much to the front of the court. Glass seemed to not be playing like his aggressive normal self.

Perhaps not wanting to make the unforced errors he was not playing with the normal pace and kill attempts that he can do quite well. He fell to the Indian player by scores of 9-3 and 9-2 in the third and fourth.

This now meant that the chance to play for 5th place would come down to each countries #2 players. David Letourneau vs Harrinder Singh. The match up couldn’t have started better for “Honest” Dave. Singh made a large number of tins combined with some loose balls which Dave was able to put away with relative ease and was able to win the first 9-2 in a short amount of time. This match was quite the contrast to the previous match as both players were eager to move the ball short.

Honest Dave started the 2nd game well, keeping the ball tight along the backhand wall. He ran out to another lead 5-3. It was then that Dave had his first slip of concentration, going for a few too many winners. He let Singh back into the match. With the game tied at 7-7 Singh tried for a couple of desperate lets but didn’t get the calls and it was 9-7 game to Letourneau and a 2-0 lead. In the third Singh came out with much more energy. The errors he was making in the first two games were now all winners and Honest Dave was starting to honestly look a bit tired. Singh took the 3rd 9-5. The fourth game was all Singh as he was hitting roll out nicks from everywhere, taking the game 9-2 in about 5 mins.

He continued his role in the fifth building an 8-1 lead before Letourneau was able to mount somewhat of a comeback. He slowed the pace down and kept Singh out there an extra 5-10 mins but his lead was just too big to overcome as he won the game 9-4 and the match 3-2.

It was heartbreak again for the Canadians. Tomorrow will be a match up for 7th place against the team from Hong Kong.

Trevor Borland
    

Wed 26th July

13-18 Round Robin:

Ireland 2-1 Japan
Finland 0-3 USA
New Zealand 3-0 Zimbabwe
Ireland 3-0 Finland
USA 3-0 New Zealand
Japan 3-0 Zimbabwe

Andrew McDougall was up against individual semi-finalist and the only player to take a game off of the eventual champion Ashour, Tarek Momen.

Dougall got off to a relatively strong start sticking with the Egyptian for the first half of the opening game. Dougall managed to open up a 5-4 lead early with some great volley drops and cut x-court kills. However it wasn’t a sign of things to come as Momen began to find his game, with some incredibly soft drops and tight length, not unlike that of Canadian star Shahier Razik. Momen went on to take the first game 9-5.

He continued his brilliant touch, length and retrieving in the second running away with it by a score of 9-1. In third Dougall gave it all he could making some great gets, but it was simply not enough as Momen went on to take the third game 9-2 and the match 3-0.

Next up was a re-match of the individual round of 32 with David Letourneau playing #1 today up against the World Junior Open finalist Omar Mosaad. If you haven’t ever seen Omar in person, he is quite the intimidating physical specimen. Letourneau who stands about 6’3 himself paled in comparison to his larger Egyptian opponent.

Omar, as he has done to many an opponent, started off on fire and was all business. As soon as the first game had started it was over, 9-0 Mosaad. The second game was much of the same as Letourneau had great difficulty getting any ball by Omar who seemed to be able to cut off every ball. He was not only able to cut off every ball but was able to put it in the nick at will.

Try as he might Letourneau was still unable to muster up a point in the second game. Not wanting to go down in such a negative fashion Letourneau came out in the third with a slightly different game plan. Letourneau tried more low hard and cut x-court shots to stretch his opponent out down low. This seemed to be somewhat effective as Letourneau got on the score board and ended up making a game of it 9-4 in the third.

The last match of the day in our encounter with the Egyptians was a dead rubber with #3’s David Glass and Mohd Ali Anwar Reda. The dead rubber meant that this re-match of the round of 32’s would only be a best of 3 encounter. Glass came out of the gates looking fresh, hitting the ball with plenty of pace which was matched by Reda.

Glass managed to stay even with Reda for the most part of the game with some good length and pressure volleys, and some nice kills and drops for good measure. However at 5-4 a few unforced errors and some winners from Reda after some lengthy rallies won him the first game 9-4.

The second game was much of the same, with high pace and kill shots from both players. Reda’s more consistent play however was the difference as he went on to win 9-2 for the clean sweep victory for the Egyptians. Next up for the Canadians will be to playoff for the 5-8 positions, as we wait for the result of the India vs England match up.

A special thank-you to the Egyptian team who after the match up got together with the Canadian team to sing me happy birthday for the big 30!!

“I played really well. I was tight at the front of the court and my length was good. Everything was good today, not many mistakes. This is a bit of a reward for losing to Aamir at the British Junior Open where I lost 3/1.This will give me back some confidence after losing to Momen in the individuals.”

Results, Wed 26th, Day Four:

Quarterfinals

Omar Mosaad  (EGY) beat David Letourneau  (CAN) 9-0 9-0 9-4 [14mins]
Tarek Momen  (EGY) beat Andrew McDougall  (CAN) 9-5 9-1 9-2 [15mins]
Mohd Ali Anwar Reda (EGY) beat Dave Glass  (CAN) 9-4 9-2 - [19mins]

Tom Pashley  (ENG) beat Sandeep Jangra  (IND) 10-8 9-2 9-6 [33mins]
Joe Lee  (ENG) beat Harinder Pal Sandhu  (IND) 9-2 9-2 8-10 9-5 [71mins]
James Snell  (ENG) beat Naresh Kumar (IND) 9-3 9-2 - [20mins]

Elvinn Keo (MAS) beat Max Lee  (HKG) 9-6 6-9 10-9 9-0 [60mins]
Leo Au (HKG) beat Ivan Yuen (MAS) 3-9 9-2 5-9 9-3 10-8 [95mins]
Muhd Asyraf Azan beat Fungji Yang (HKG) 9-2 9-6 9-7 [27mins]

Simon Rosner  (GER) beat Aamir Atlas Khan (PAK) 9-5 9-4 10-8 [44mins]
Yasir Butt  (PAK) beat Florian Silbernagl( GER) 9-4 9-4 9-2 [20mins]
Farhan Mehboob  (PAK) beat Carsten Schoor (GER) 9-2 9-1 9-6 [31mins]

9th - 12th playoffs

Tom Hoevenaars (NED) beat Zac Alexander(AUS) 10-8 9-3 9-4 [42mins]
Bastiaan Meulenbelt(NED) beat Matt Reece  (AUS) 9-5 9-6 9-7 [37mins]
Sander Kock  (NED) beat Rex Hedrick(AUS) 5-9 9-6 10-8 9-0 [54mins]

Nicolas Mueller  (SUI) beat Richard Colburn(RSA) 8-10 9-1 9-3 9-0 [34mins]
Jason Cole Niven(RSA) beat Benjamin Fischer(SUI) 9-3 9-2 9-3 [40mins]
Rudi Willemse(RSA) beat Livio Catenazzi(SUI) 9-2 4-9 9-4 3-9 9-3 [64mins]

13th - 19th playoffs
Rory Byrne  (IRL) beat Yuuta Fukui(JPN) 5-9 4-9 9-6 9-7 9-0 [45mins]
Conor O'Hare(IRL) beat Bumpei Kawano(JPN) 9-6 10-9 9-2 [48mins]
Shinnosuke Tsukue(JPN) beat Chris O'Kane(IRL) 9-2 9-0 9-5 [17mins]

Mark Froot(USA) beat Pyry Poikolainen  (FIN) 2-9 9-7 9-2 0-9 10-8 [40mins]
Reed Endresen(USA) beat Petteri Siren(FIN) 9-1 9-0 9-2 [21mins]
Todd Harrity(USA) beat Aatos Mannroos(FIN) 9-0 9-3 9-1 [24mins]

Evan Williams  (NZL) beat Deepesh Patel(ZIM) 9-1 9-4 9-5 [26mins]
Josh Thom(NZL) beat Ahmed Hassan(ZIM) 9-3 9-5 9-4 [24mins]
Lui Syder(NZL) beat Ainsley Gannaway(ZIM) 9-4 9-0 9-3 [17mins]

Rory Byrne  (IRL) beat Karri Salonen(FIN) 9-2 9-2 9-3 [16mins]
Conor O'Hare(IRL) beat Petteri Siren(FIN) 9-1 9-1 9-2 [23mins]
Chris O'Kane(IRL) beat Aatos Mannroos(FIN) 9-6 9-4 9-4 [26mins]

Mark Froot(USA) beat Evan Williams [9-16] (NZL) 9-6 2-9 9-7 9-5 [51mins]
Reed Endresen(USA) beat Josh Thom(NZL) 9-5 7-9 10-8 9-1 [70mins]
Todd Harrity(USA) beat Lui Syder(NZL) 9-2 9-2 9-6 [28mins]

Yuuta Fukui(JPN) beat Deepesh Patel(ZIM) 9-2 9-2 9-1 [23mins]
Bumpei Kawano(JPN) beat Ahmed Hassan(ZIM) 9-2 9-1 9-0 [22mins]
Shinnosuke Tsukue(JPN) beat Zardeen Wazir(ZIM) 9-0 9-1 9-3 [18mins]
  

Ref's day out ...

USA v England

Team USA took on #3 seed England today in the final round of the Pool Play Stage. We decided to rest a very tired Mark Froot to get him ready for Stage 2.

England was as advertised and took the match 3-0. USA didn't just lay down to the powerful England squad and fought hard in every match.

Trevor was up first versus Joe Lee and was in each of the first two games but rolled his ankle after stepping on Joe's foot late in the second. It was pretty bad and swelled up instantly.

Trevor was awarded unlimited time to mend his injury as it was an accidental injury that was contributed by both opponents. Trevor put on a brace and was back on court not wanting to wait any longer for the ankle to swell up even more.

He finished the game and had very little left for the third as he was tender to lunge too hard on it. Trevor has been icing since the match and is ready for tomorrow's match.

Todd and Reed both played some amazing squash today and worked their opponents around a little before the USA bowed out each losing 3-0.

USA is into Stage 2 for the remainder of the event. Due to the number of teams that are competing, the 4th+5th place teams in each pool play off for 13-18th place in a round robin format. That means we have 5 matches left this week and the best we can do is 13th, one better than our seeding.

Chris Smith

Day Two from England Germany, USA,  India, Canada ... <