Final Round Of Qualifying : US Shut Out By Italy, Canada Beats Namibia To Go Undefeated, Mexico Pulls It Out Over Scotland
from DailySquashReport.com
August 24th, 2011 - All three North American squads have advanced to today’s elite round-of-16, with Mexico needing a clutch final match victory to clinch.
The US men lost three-straight to Italy yesterday in the final round of pool play at the World Team Championships in Germany, though only main-draw seeding was at stake as both countries have qualified into the elite knockout 16-team tournament.
Chris Gordon, who pulled out the win against Switzerland, lost to Italy’s Marcus Berrett in three.
Alternate Todd Harrity won the first game against Amr Swelim but lost in four.
#1 American Julian Illingworth and Italian Stephane Galifi engaged in a spirited battle, won by the Italian 11-9 in the fifth. The result is a bit of an upset, since Illingworth is ranked #31 by the PSA and Galifi is at #50.
Italy, as the Pool H winner, will play Pool G runner-up Mexico in the championship tournament today while Pool H runner-up US has drawn pool G winner Canada.
The Canadian team finished off an undefeated run through pool play by defeating Namibia in three, though Shawn Delierre, playing #1 for Shazier Razik, was extended to five. Andrew McDougall and Andrew Schnell won in straight games.
For Mexico and Scotland, each needing to win to advance, it all came down to the third and final match, pitting #1s Cesar Salazar and Alan Clyne. Salazar came up big under pressure and propelled Mexico into the money round: 5-11 11-9 11-6 11-5.
And for those that remember the glory days of Pakistan squash, it is hard to fathom a lower point than was reached yesterday.
The Pakistani team lost 2-1 to Denmark, missing the main draw final-16 cut for the first time in history.
US v ITALY RESULTS:
Marcus Berrett beat Chris Gordon 11-4 11-6 11-9
Amr Swelim beat Todd Harrity 8-11 11-9 11-3 11-6
Stephane Galifi beat Julian Illingworth 7-11 11-4 11-6 7-11 11-9
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