WORLD SQUASH NEWS

RESULTS: Men's World Team Squash Championship, Vienna, Austria

Semi-finals:
[1]AUSTRALIA 3 [4]EGYPT 0 (David Palmer bt Karim Darwish 9-5, 8-10, 9-4, 9-2; Anthony Ricketts bt Amr Shabana 9-5, 9-0; Joseph Kneipp bt Mohamed Abbas 9-6, 9-4, 5-9, 9-4)
[3]FRANCE 2 [2]ENGLAND 1 (Thierry Lincou bt Peter Nicol 8-10, 9-4, 9-7, 9-2; Gregory Gaultier bt Lee Beachill 9-4, 1-9, 10-8, 1-9, 10-9; Jean-Michel Arcucci lost to Nick Matthew 1-9, 3-9, 2-9)
5th - 8th place play-offs:
[7]WALES 3 [17/24]HONG KONG 0 (Alex Gough bt Wong Wai Hang 9-6, 9-1, 9-2; David Evans bt Dick Lau 9-3, 9-5; Gavin Jones bt Roger Ngan 9-2, 9-2, 9-0)
[5]CANADA 2 [6]SCOTLAND 1 (Jonathon Power bt John White 9-5, 4-9, 10-8, 9-7; Graham Ryding bt Martin Heath 4-9, 9-6, 9-6, 9-3; Viktor Berg lost to Neil Frankland 8-10, 9-3, 9-4, 4-9, 5-9)
9th - 12th place play-offs:
[11]SOUTH AFRICA 3 [12]NETHERLANDS 0 (Rodney Durbach bt Tommy Berden 9-4, 9-5, 8-10, 1-9, 9-2; Craig van der Wath bt Lucas Buit 9-6, 9-0; Gregory La Mude bt Michael Fiteni 9-2, 9-5, 9-1)
[9]PAKISTAN 2 [10]IRELAND 1 (Mansoor Zaman bt Derek Ryan 9-3, 9-4, 9-1; Farrukh Zaman lost to John Rooney 6-9, 5-9; Majid Khan bt Graeme Stewart 9-0, 9-0, 9-6)
13th - 16th place play-offs:
[8]MALAYSIA 2 [16]GERMANY 1 (Ong Beng Hee bt Simon Frenz 9-3, 9-6, 4-9, 7-9, 9-5; Moh'd Azlan Iskandar bt Stefan Leifels 9-5, 9-1, 9-1; Timothy Arnold lost to Oliver Post 0-9, 0-9, 2-9)
[15]SWITZERLAND 2 [14]SWEDEN 1 (Lars Harms lost to Christian Drakenberg 3-9, 4-9, 9-4, 8-10; Andre Holderegger bt Joakim Karlsson 9-3, 6-9, 9-1, 9-0; Marco Dätwyler bt Badr Abdel Aziz 9-10, 5-9, 9-7, 9-7, 9-3)
17th-20th place play-offs:
[17/24]ITALY 2 KUWAIT 1 (Andrea Capella lost to Bader Alhosaini 10-8, 3-9, 0-9, 7-9; Francesco Busi bt Ali Alramezi 9-1, 9-1, 9-0; Andrea Torricini bt Abdullah Almezayem 7-9, 9-3, 9-1, 9-1)
[17/24]NEW ZEALAND 3 [17/24]USA 0 (Glen Wilson bt Preston Quick 9-7, 6-9, 6-9, 9-7, 9-2; Daniel Sharplin bt Damian Walker 9-4, 9-3; Callum O'Brien bt Jamie Crombie 9-4, 5-9, 4-9, 9-2, 9-3)
21st-24th place play-offs:
[17/24]AUSTRIA 2 [17/24]CZECH REPUBLIC 1 (Leopold Czaska lost to Jan Koukal 9-6, 9-7, 1-9, 2-9, 1-9; Clemens Wallishauser bt Milos Pokorny 9-2, 9-5, 9-2; Andreas Fuchs bt Martin Stepan 9-3, 9-7, 7-9, 9-1)
HUNGARY 3 [17/24]JAPAN 0 (Andras Torok bt Kimihiko Sano 9-1, 3-9, 9-10, 9-6, 9-3; Mark Krajcsak bt Takehide Nishio 10-8, 9-2; Sandor Fulop bt Takeshi Aoyama 9-3, 9-3, 9-2)
25th-28th place play-offs:
[13]FINLAND 3 BERMUDA 0 (Olli Tuominen bt Nicholas Kyme 9-2, 9-0, 9-7; Juha Raumolin bt James Stout 9-4, 9-5; Matias Tuomi bt Sam Stevens 9-1, 9-2, 9-1)
SLOVENIA 2 KOREA 1 (Damir Bezan lost to Yong-Chun Chong 4-9, 4-9, 5-9; Klemen Gutman bt Dong-Woo Kim 10-9, 9-6, 9-5; Miha Kavas bt Jaung-Gue Park 6-9, 9-0, 9-2, 9-4)
29th place play-off:
[17/24]MEXICO 3 RUSSIA 0 (Eric Galvez bt Alexei Severinov 9-3, 9-5, 9-0; Armando Zarazua bt Serguei Kostrykine 9-1, 9-4; Mauricio Sanchez bt Maxim Shokin 9-1, 9-1, 9-2)

France Defeat England To Celebrate World Final Debut

Third seeds France will face defending champions Australia in their debut appearance in the final of the Men's World Team Squash Championship in Vienna, Austria, after defeating former champions England in one of the most dramatic semi-final upsets on record.

Third string Nick Matthew was in sparkling form in the opening match as he put second seeds England into the lead with a 9-1 9-3 9-2 victory over France's Jean-Michel Arcucci.

World No1 Peter Nicol, fresh from his miraculous triumph over Canadian rival Jonathon Power only 24 hours earlier, took an early lead against world No4 Thierry Lincou in the next match on the all-glass showcourt.  But the French No1 fought back to level the tie by beating Nicol 8-10 9-4 9-7 9-2.

The decider had the capacity crowd on the edge of their seats throughout the seesaw battle.  Gregory Gaultier claimed the opening game, then England's world No10 Lee Beachill took the next.  The Frenchman, just one position below in the world rankings, fought back to go 2/1 up, but again Beachill drew level before taking a 7-1 lead in the fifth game. 

With the two sections of the crowd cheering alternative successes, Gaultier mounted a sensational comeback to draw level at seven-all before claiming the first match ball at 8/7.  After saving it, Beachill again took the upper hand and secured the first English match ball at 9-8! 

A few tense moments later and the court was invaded by delirious French team-mates and supporters as Gaultier celebrated a remarkable comeback and a 9-4 1-9 10-8 1-9 10-9 victory in 105 minutes.

Top seeds Australia had an altogether easier ride through to their second successive final after a 3/0 win over 1999 champions Egypt, the fourth seeds.  Third string Joseph Kneipp put the champions ahead after defeating Mohamed Abbas 9-6 9-4 5-9 9-4, then world champion David Palmer clinched the Australian victory with a 9-5 8-10 9-4 9-2 win over Egyptian No1 Karim Darwish.  In the dead rubber, Anthony Ricketts beat Amr Shabana 9-5 9-0.

Official website: http://www.squash-wm.at/