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Women's
World Team
Championships 2008
30-Nov to 06-Dec, Cairo |
19-Nov-08:
England top Cairo seedings
Defending champions
England are
seeded to retain the title in next month's Women's
World Team Championships in
Egypt.
Led by world No5 Jenny
Duncalf, the England squad boasts four players who have achieved
world top eight rankings. Champions
of the 2006 championships in Canada, England have reached the final
on 12 occasions since the inaugural biennial event in 1979, with
victory on six occasions.
Hosts Egypt,
who celebrated a best-ever second place finish in 2006, are seeded
to meet England again in the final - and will be led by Omneya
Abdel Kawy, the 23-year-old world No8 who is already a 'veteran'
of five championships since 1998!
New Zealand are
seeded to finish in third place - two places higher than their
outcome in the previous championships -
while Netherlands are
expected to repeat their fourth place finish in 2006.
But Malaysia,
led by world number one Nicol
David and bronze
medal winners in Canada for the first time, are seeded five - and
will have to overcome Netherlands in the Pool D qualifying
competition in order to avoid the top two seeds in the
quarter-finals.
China will
make their debut in 2008 Championship which has attracted 19 nations
to the National
Stadium in Cairo,
from 30 November to 6 December.
Teams will meet
in the following pools (seeding indicated) before moving into the
knockout stages from Thursday 4 December:
Pool A:
1 ENGLAND, 8 FRANCE, 9 HONG KONG, 16 SPAIN, 17 AUSTRIA
Pool B:
2 EGYPT, 7 AUSTRALIA, 10 CANADA, 15 JAPAN, 18 SWITZERLAND
Pool C:
3 NEW ZEALAND, 6 IRELAND, 11 USA, 14 ITALY, 19 CHINA
Pool D:
4 MALAYSIA, 5 NETHERLANDS, 12 GERMANY, 13 SOUTH AFRICA |
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02-Sep-08:
Changing of the guard in
Aussie women’s squash
Andrew Dent reports
 New
South Wales’ Donna Urquhart and Queensland’s Lisa
Camilleri will make their Australian senior debuts after being
selected for the Women’s World Teams’ Championship in Cairo from
November 30–December 6.
 Urquhart,
21, and Camilleri, 25, have been included after a string of
successes over the past year during which time they have taken their
world rankings to 29 and 38 respectively.
They join New South Wales’ Kasey Brown (world No.13) and
Victorian Amelia Pittock (40) in a new look Australian team
capable of causing some major upsets.
Urquhart, from Yamba, broke through for her first professional wins
in late 2007 when she took out consecutive tournaments in Malaysia.
She is no stranger to Cairo, having played there for the Australian
team in the 2003 World Junior Women’s Championships.
 “I’m
really looking forward to it this time.
“I think we can do quite well and surprise some people. It’s a young
team so I suppose it’s a bit of a changing of the guard in some
respects.
“But it’s a pretty good group of girls and I’m sure we’ll do our
best.”
Camilleri has been in stunning form
in 2008, winning five tournaments so far this year, the latest two
weeks ago in Pakistan.
She has been spending time at the Australian Institute of Sport as a
member of the 2010 Commonwealth Games training squad and that work
has paid off with her recent results.
 Brown,
23, and Pittock, 25, both played for Australia at the last Women’s
World Teams’ Championships, in Canada in 2006.
They have both won twice this year – Brown in Montreal and Hong Kong
and Pittock in Washington and Adelaide.
Brown was also runner-up at the 2008 Australian Open where she lost
a thrilling five-game final to Hong Kong’s Annie Au.
The team will be coached by Australian squash great Michelle Martin.
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Aussie Team
Kasey Brown
Taree NSW
Age: 23
World Ranking: 13
Career Titles: 9
Career Highlights: Australian Open 2006, Australia Junior Champion
2003 2004, Atwater Cup (Canada) 2008
Donna Urquhart Yamba NSW
Age: 21
World Ranking: 29
Career Titles: 2
Career Highlights: Australian Junior Champion 2005, NSC Star
(Malaysia) 2007
Lisa Camilleri
Tully, Queensland
Age: 25
World Ranking: 38
Career titles: 6
Career Highlights: Top End Open 2008, City of Perth International
2007, POF Wah Cantt Open (Pakistan) 2008
Amelia Pittock Dromana, Victoria
Age: 25
World Ranking: 40
Career Titles: 5
Career Highlights: Australian Junior Champion 2002, Capitol Hill
Open (USA) 2008, South Australian Open 2007 2008, Queensland Open
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25-Aug-08:
Kiwi team named
A high profile endorsement of the New Zealand team named for the
Women's World Team Squash Championships in Egypt later this year.
The four strong line-up has been announced, with world number seven
Shelley Kitchen joined by 19th ranked Jaclyn Hawkes,
Louise Crome (#22) and rising teenage star Joelle King
(#55)
They will be accompanied by squash legend Dame Susan Devoy,
who is the team manager and coach Anthony Ricketts, the
former world number three.
Dame Susan says it has been a long time since she was playing at the
top level, so she is flattered to be asked to manage the team. She
says she is impressed with the four players, having seen them in
action at the International Festival of
Squash in Mount Maunganui earlier this month.
 "They
are all extremely professional in the way they conduct themselves
both on and off the court and are a great flagship for New Zealand
on the world stage".
"No New Zealand squash team has ever won the world title or been
nominated for the Halberg awards, and these players have a great
opportunity to set the record straight".
"I have spoken to the players about the challenge ahead and
reinforced what a positive impact success would be to the game in
New Zealand."
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2006, Canada
2004,
Holland
Full Records |
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