ISLAMABAD: Egypt retained the WSF Men’s World Junior Team Squash Championship title for the third time in a row as they overcame Pakistan 2-0 in the final at the Wanderers Sports Club in Windhoek, Namibia.

But the favourites were pushed all the way by the second seeds in the sixth successive final between the world squash powerhouses — Egypt’s eventual triumph equalling the five-title record of Australia, the event’s first champions in 1980.

Egyptian No.1 Omar Elatmas put the defending champions ahead with a 12-10, 12-10, 6-11, 11-8 victory over his Pakistani opponent Tayyab Aslam in 74 minutes.

It was a repeat of the 18-year-old from Cairo’s quarter-final upset over the top Pakistani junior in the preceding world individual championship — which ultimately led to Elatmas reaching the final, as a 9/16 seed.

With resounding cheers from the Egyptian bench, second-string Youssef Aboul-Makarim then twice repelled fightbacks by Pakistan’s Syed Ali Mujtaba Shah Bokhari as the former overwhelmed the latter 11-7, 9-11, 11-3, 7-11, 11-9 in 62 minutes to steer Egypt to a historic 2-0 triumph.

Published in Dawn, August 23rd, 2014