Egypt & Pakistan to Contest World Junior Final

Bielsko-Biała, Aug 16, 2016: Egypt & Pakistan to Contest World Junior Final, After first meeting in the 2004 climax, top seeds Egypt and Pakistan will contest the seventh successive final of the VDC Dental-Care WSF Men’s World Junior Team Squash Championship after anticipated semi-finals victories in the biennial World Squash Federation event in the Polish city of Bielsko-Biała.

The 2/0 victory over surprise semi-finalists USA takes Pakistan into an unprecedented eighth successive final – whilst the 2/1 win over former champions England puts Egypt, the favourites, in line for a record fourth title in a row and record six titles overall.

In the first semi, England’s Harry Falconer was two points away from winning the opening game before Marwan Tarek Abdelhamid took the lead 12-10. The Egyptian was in control thereafter, rounding off the match 11-6, 11-5 to give Egypt the lead.

A tough second between the teams’ top strings saw Charlie Lee came out of the blocks quickly to take the first game against Egypt’s individual championship runner-up Saadeldin Abouaish (both pictured above). The Egyptian picked up his game to take the next two to reclaim the lead.
The Englishman had the upper hand from the start of the fourth, however, leading 4-0, 7-4 and then 10-6. Abouaish managed to save those game balls and one more at 10-11 before Lee finally clinched it 13-11 to draw level.

The momentum was with Abouaish from the outset of the decider, and although Lee fought his way back to seven-all the Egyptian pulled away again, taking the match 6-11, 11-4, 11-9, 11-13, 11-8 after 68 minutes as Lee called his own double bounce.

“That was a really good match,” said the Egyptian number one. “I thought I was unlucky not to close it out in the fourth having come back like that, but managed to hold my concentration in the fifth. Great respect to Charlie for calling his ball down on the last point, that’s true sportsmanship and real class.”

In the other semi, Samuel Scherl carried on where he left off 24 hours earlier when he steered sixth seeds USA to an historic place in the last four after a shock win over third seeds France. The 17-year-old from New Jersey took the opening game against Pakistan’s Abbas Shoukat (both pictured below) – but the 18-year-old from Peshawar bounced back to win 10-12, 11-4, 11-4, 11-5 to put Pakistan in the lead.

In the second top string match, USA’s Andrew Douglas forged leads in all here games – but Pakistani Israr Ahmed ultimately prevailed 11-9, 11-9, 11-9 to put Pakistan into their historic final.

RESULTS: VDC Dental-Care WSF Men’s World Junior Team Squash Championship, Bielsko-Biała, Poland
Semi-finals:
[1] EGYPT bt [5] ENGLAND 2/1
Marwan Tarek Abdelhamid bt Harry Falconer 12-10, 11-6, 11-5 (34m)
Saadeldin Abouaish bt Charlie Lee 6-11, 11-4, 11-9, 11-13, 11-8 (68m)
Youssef Ibrahim Abdallah lost to Kyle Finch 5-11, 11-8, 10-12

[2] PAKISTAN bt [6] USA 2/0
Abbas Shoukat bt Samuel Scherl 10-12, 11-4, 11-4, 11-5 (40m)
Israr Ahmed bt Andrew Douglas 11-9, 11-9, 11-9 (28m)

Final:
[1] EGYPT v [2] PAKISTAN
5th place play-off:
[4] INDIA v [3] FRANCE
7th place play-off:
[9] NEW ZEALAND v [10] AUSTRALIA
9th place play-off:
[11] HONG KONG CHINA v [12] JORDAN
11th place play-off:
[8] CANADA v [17] SOUTH AFRICA
13th place play-off:
[7] MALAYSIA v [14] SWITZERLAND
15th place play-off:
[16] ISRAEL v [19] SPAIN. —- WSF