England wins World Team Squash title

Defending champions, England retained their title when they came from behind to get the better of Australia 2-1 in the final of the 21st World Men's Team Squash championship in Chennai on Wednesday.

England won the glittering trophy for the second successive biennial year before a packed stadium at the India Cements all-glass court this evening.

After David Palmer, world number four, gave Australia the vital lead beating England's top seeded player Nick Mathew (Ranked 5) 3-2, the Englishmen James Willstrop and Peter Baker played to their potential to secure a deserving win for England.

• Squash: India lose to Egypt

Willstrop defeated Steward Boswell in straight games of 3-0 and Barker scored over Cameron Pilley (3-0).

As for India, it was a creditable show by the quartet Saurav Ghosal, Ritwik Bhattacharya, Siddarth Suchude and Gaurav Nandajog as they finished a creditable eighth, improving upon from their previous position of eleventh.

Pakistan, who used to rule the squash world in the 70s and 80s, were pushed to ninth spot behind India.

This is the sixth time that England is winning the title, the earlier occasions being in 1976, 1979, 1995, 1997, and 2005. They were finalists on six occasions while the Aussies had won the title on eight occasions including four times in a row. They were runner-up on two occasions.

Mrs Els VanBreda Vriesman, President, International Hockey Federation, who was the chief guest, distributed the championship trophy to the England team members.

Results:

Final: England bt Australia 2-1:
Nick Mathew lost to David Palmer 9-11, 9-11, 11-7, 11-2 4-11, James Willstrop bt Steward Boswell 11-8, 11-7, 11-10, Peter Barker bt Cameron Pilley 11-6, 11-3, 11-8.

3-4: France bt Egypt 2-0:
Gregory Gaultier bt Amr Shabana 11-2, 11-7, 9-11, 11-3 Thierry Lincou bt Wael El Hindi 11-4, 6-11, 11-5, 11-3.

5-6: Malaysia bt Canada 2-0:
Mohd Azlan Bin Iskandar 11-10m (2-0), 11-10 (3-1), 11-5, Ong Beng Hee Bt MAtthew Giuffre 11-7, 11-6, 11-7.

7-8: Netherlands bt India 2-0:
Laurens Jan Anjema bt Saurav Ghosal 11-10 (3-1), 11-4, 11-4, Dylan Bennett bt Rikwik Bhattacharya 11-6, 11-4, 11-7.

9-10: Pakistan bt Wales 2-0:
Amir Atlas Khan bt Alex Gough 11-5, 11-9, 11-10 (2-0), Mansoor Zaman bt Rob Sutherland 11-9, 11-5, 11-9.

11-12: South Africa bt Ireland 2-1:
Jesse Engeibrecht lost to Liam Kenn 11-3, 11-6, 11-9, Stephen Coppinger bt Derek Ryan 11-10, (2-0), 11-2, 11-3, Adnan Hansen bt Arthur Gaskin 11-6, 11-6, 11-6.

13-14: New Zealand bt U.S.A. 2-0:
Kashif Shuja bt Julian Illingworth 11-7, 11-9, 7-11, 11-10 (3-1), Campbell Garyson bt Christian Gordon 11-3, 11-6 11-1.

15-16: Hong Kong bt Germany 2-1:
Diock Lau lost to Simon Rosner 2-11, 9-11, 8-11, Wong Wai Hang bt Tim Webber 11-4, 5-11, 11-9, 11-6, Max Lee bt Mortiz Dahmen 7-11, 11-8, 11-5, 11-8.

Positions 17 to 29:

Sweden bt Scotland 2-0:
Christian Drakenberg bt Alan Clyne 11-4, 11-2, 11-10 (2-0), Badr Aziz bt Stuart Crawfor 11-6, 11-8, 11-6.

Final Standing:
1.England, 2. Australia, 3. France, 4.Egypt, 5.Malaysia, 6.Canada, 7.Netherlands, 8.India, 9.Pakistan, 10.Wales, 11.South Africa, 12.Ireland, 13.New Zealand, 14.USA, 15.Hong Kong, 16.Germany, 17.Sweden, 18.Scotland, 19.Spain, 20.Japan, 21.Finland, 22.Kuwait, 23.Kenya, 24.Austria, 25.Sri Lanka, 26.Bermuda, 27.Russia, 28.Venezuela and 29.Chinese Taipei.