ISLAMABAD, Dec 13: Top seeds England and Egypt carved out fine semifinal victories on Tuesday to clash in the final of the World Team Championship at the Mushaf Squash Complex.

In what were truly exciting matches from start to finish, England edged Canada 2-1 and Egypt, on show in the second pre-final, outlasted No 3 seeds France by a similar scoreline.

But Pakistan looked jaded crashing to a 1-2 defeat against Malaysia that left them vying for seventh position where their rivals Wednesday will be Wales.

After losing a tough quarterfinal against France the day before, the players, save for Farhan Mahboob were not in the best of physical shape.

Ong Beng Hee dispatched Mansoor Zaman in straight games and to compound the problems, Shahid Zaman conceded his match against M. Azlan Iskandar because of an ankle injury. Later Farhan picked up a face-saving victory over Timothy Arnold.

England made a winning start through Peter Nicol, the world No 8 who shrugged off the challenge from Graham Ryding 9-4, 9-2, 9-6 in 38 minutes.

Jonathan Power, the former world No. 1 and currently No 6 put Canada back into the game handing the No. 2 ranked James Willstrop a 9-3, 9-7, 9-4 defeat.

Nick Matthew then sealed victory for England, winners in 1995 and 1997 downing Shahier Razik 8-10, 9-2, 9-2 in a 44-minute encounter.

The Canadians after conquering defending champions Australia on Monday were on a high but England proved tough customers and showed they have been seeded on top for a reason.

The Egyptians, bidding to win the championship after last wearing the crown in 1999 were put on the way by Karim Darwish who outdid Gregory Gaultier 9-4, 9-3, 9-4 without much difficulty.

Their progress was however soon checked, world No 1 Thierry Lincou putting the match on an even keel in an engrossing encounter with world champion Amr Shabana.

Lincou showed character and guts fighting back from a game down to complete a 0-9, 9-6, 9-3, 9-8 victory for which he was made to sweat.

The Frenchman trailed Shabana 0-6 in the second game and 1-6 in the last one but made an incredible recovery on both occasions, ensuring his side stayed in the match.

Having done the needful all eyes were on the third match that pitted France’s Renan Lavigne, ranked 33 against Wael Al Hendi, the world No 19.

It was a match marred by several contentious decisions which seemed to upset both players. At one stage Lavigne got so frustrated he threw his racket in anger that drew a warning from the referee.

With tension mounting and tempers flaring it was Al-Hendi who eventually won 9-3, 4-9, 9-6, 9-6 but just as he was about to leave the court, Lavigne seemed to give further vent to his feelings by indulging in some pushing and shoving. Sense prevailed though as rival camps quickly took their players away.

Meanwhile, Pakistan coach Jamshed Gul said of Shahid that he sustained the injury to his left ankle in the match against Spain.

“He played a hard quarterfinal and today just as he was warming up in the court, his ankle began to hurt.”

Jamshed, who before taking up the Pakistan job was Malaysia’s national coach, pointed out that such things do happen in team championships.

He conceded that the fitness of the players was not up to the mark. “It was mainly because the boys could not get proper training for they had to play three tournaments on the circuit in the past month which they could not afford to miss.”

Results:

Semifinals:

England bt Canada 2-1 (Peter Nicol bt Graham Ryding 9-4, 9-2, 9-6, James Willstrop lost to Jonathan Power 3-9, 9-7, 4-9, Nick Matthew bt Shahier Razik 8-10, 9-2, 9- 2).

Egypt bt France 2-1 (Karim Darwish bt Gregory Gaultier 9-4, 9-3, 9-4, Thierry Lincou (Fra) bt Amr Shabana 0-9, 9-6, 9-3, 9-8, Wael Al Hendi bt Renan Lavigne 9-3, 4-9, 9-6, 9-6).

Playoff for 5th position: Malaysia bt Pakistan 2-1 ( Ong Beng Hee bt Mansoor Zaman 9-4, 9- 5, 9-4, M. Azlan Iskandar bt Shahid Zaman (conceded match), Farhan Mahboob (Pak) bt Timothy Arnold 9-0, 9-2, 9-1).

Final (Wednesday) England v Egypt at 2.30pm.