Canada Beats US For 7th Place In World Junior Teams Finale
from DailySquashReport.com
photo courtesy Squash Canada
July 19, 2012 -The Canadian men's junior team finished off a demanding ten days in Qatar on an up-beat note yesterday, beating the United States 2-1 in a three-hour clash and securing a 7th-place finish in the 2012 World Team Championships.
The US team, which lost its final three matches, wound up 8th.
In the opener, which paired the teams' number three players, Devin McLaughlin of the US won the first two games easily against Zac Leman, but the Canadian came back to force a decider. McLaughlin was able to resurrect his game and secure the match, 11-8 in the fifth.
Next was the anticipated battle of number ones Cameron Seth of Fergus, Ontario, versus Dylan Murray of Bronxville, New York. Murray took the early 2-1 lead, but Seth's fitness and determination carried him through the fourth and fifth, which he won 11-3 and 11-5 to level the match at one-all.
That set the stage for number twos Tyler Olson of Canada and Edward Columbia of the US.
Olson pulled out a pivotal overtime first game and then steadied his way to a straight-set, 37-minute clutch win, nailing down the match, and bragging rights, for the jubilant Canadians.
For the US, it was a frustrating end to a team event that had begun promisingly.
Following last week's World Individuals tournament where all four team members lost in the round-of-64, the Americans gained momentum in the team event, running the table in the three-match round-robin pool portion, and then shutting out Kuwait in the first round of the playoffs.
But after a one-sided loss to England in the quarterfinals, the US then suffered disappointing losses to Japan, a team making only its third-ever appearance in the event, and finally yesterday to historical rival Canada.
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