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| October 27, 2001 | Saturday | Shaba'an 9, 1422 |
Australia edge closer to record 7th title
MELBOURNE, Oct 26: Australia moved closer to a record seventh title as England were forced to stage a fighting comeback to reach the semi-finals of the world squash team championships here Friday.
The top-seeded home side whitewashed France 3-0, although Paul Price needed five games to beat Jean-Michel Arcucci in the opening rubber.
Having cruised through the first two games, the world No.6 then dropped the next two, 9-10, 8-10 to a player ranked 37 places lower.
But the Melbourne player recovered to win 9-3, 9-0, 9-10, 8-10, 9-4.
World No.1 David Palmer clinched the semi-final berth with a 9-2, 9-4, 9-6 win over Terry Lincou.
It was third-string Paul Johnson that had to stage a fighting recovery to secure England’s meeting with the Australians.
With the tie level at one-all, the world No.15 had to come back from two games down to beat Mohammed Azlan, the world No.58, 6-9, 3-9, 9-2, 9-2, 9-5 in 74 minutes.
Chris Walker had set England on the road to victory, but Ong Beng Hee had levelled the scores with an impressive 9-7, 9-0, 9-4 win over Mark Chaloner in the top string.
Meanwhile, holders Egypt, the sixth seeds, showed they will not relinquish their trophy without a fight in an upset quarter-final win over Canada.
With Karim Darwish, a former world junior champion, beating an out-of-touch world No.2 Jonathon Power, Mohammed Abbas then won the deciding rubber to clinch a semi-final with Scotland.
Scotland went through to the last four for a first time with a 2-1 win over South Africa.
John White and Martin Heath, both world top ten players, secured the points for the fifth seeds.
Canada’s Graham Ryding gave the fourth seeds a winning start with a comfortable 9-4, 9-5, 9-0 win over Amr Shabana, but Power, struggling with a calf injury, was no match for Darwish, one of the fastest rising stars.
The 20-year-old world No.19 always held the upper-hand in winning 9-2, 9-2, 10-9 to set up the decider between Abbas and Shahid Razik.
It was a close contest, with Razik on course to take the rubber in to a fifth game when he led 9-7 in the fourth.
But Abbas hit back to win 9-3, 6-9, 9-1, 9-7.
The defeat sparked an angry reaction from the Canadian. On leaving the court, he tossed his racket into the crowd and then angrily kicked a chair across the arena.
It was a display that earned a warning from the referee.
Scotland, seeded fifth, were always in control against South Africa. Heath won the opening rubber 9-1, 9-3, 9-7 against Glenn Whittaker, and then White wrapped up the result with a 9-5, 9-6, 3-9, 9-4 victory over Rodney Durbach.
QUARTERFINALS:
Egypt bt Canada 2-1 (Kareem Darwish bt Jonathon Power 9-2, 9-2, 10-9; Amr Shabana lost to Graham Ryding 4-9, 5-9, 0-9; Mohammed Abbas bt Shahier Razik 9-3, 6-9, 9-1, 9-7) Scotland bt South Africa 2-1 (John White bt Rodney Durbach 9-5, 9-6, 3-9, 9-4; Martin Heath bt Glenn Whittaker 9-1, 9-3, 9-7; Neil Frankland lost to Adrian Hansen 9-7, 2-9, 2-9) Australia bt France 3-0 (David Palmer bt Thierry Lancou 9-2, 9-4, 9-6; Paul Price bt Jean-Michel Arucci 9-3, 9-0, 9-10, 8-10, 9-4; Stewart Bosweel bt Gregory Gaultier 9-7, 9-4)
England bt Malaysia 2-1 (Mark Chaloner lost to Ong Beng Hee 5-9, 0-9, 4-9; Chris Walker bt Kennth Low 9-6, 5-9, 9-7, 9-0; Paul Johnson bt Azlan Iskandar 6-9, 3-9, 9-2, 9-2, 9-5)
Play-offs for place 9-16
Wales bt Germany 2-1, Pakistan bt Sweden 3-0 (Mansoor Zaman bt Daniel Forslund 9-1, 10-8, 9-2; Shahid Zaman bt Christian Drakenberg 9-3, 9-3, 9-4; Shamsul Islam bt Badr Abdel Aziz 10-9, 9-5), Ireland bt Denmark 3-0, Finland bt Netherlands 2-1
Play-offs for place 17-24
New Zealand bt Mexico 3-0, Austria bt Japan 3-0, USA bt Norway 3-0, Hong Kong bt Kenya 3-0.
There are doubts about whether the World Open will go ahead in India in December amid the US-led strikes on Afghanistan, the Professional Squash Association (PSA) chief said Friday.
“Mumbai is still on, but it is subject to war difficulties which are now dominating policy of almost every sport,” said PSA executive director Gawain Briars of the tournament, scheduled for December 4-9.
“PSA is holding a review of the matter at the end of this month with the promoters with a view to issuing the best advice we can in the prevailing circumstances.”
If the event is removed from the calendar, it will be another blow for the sport.
The men’s $105,000 WSF World Championship was downgraded to a 15,000-dollar WSF World Challenge here last week due to sponsorship difficulties.
Squash has been particularly hard hit by a downturn in corporate sponsorship.
Its World Open has not been held since the autumn of 1999 when Peter Nicol won the title.—AFP
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