World Men's Teams Day 2: US Men Fall to Germany 2-1; Botswana Boast World Championship Breakthrough by Howard Harding
photo courtesy Steve Cubbins
June 10, 2013
- "Our first championship - and our first win," exclaimed the exuberant
Botswana number one Alister Walker as he stepped off the court after
winning the decider against Poland on the second day of qualifying in
the WSF Men's World Team Squash Championship in France.
Both Poland and Botswana are making their debuts in the 24th edition of
the biennial event which is being held in France for the first time.
Action is taking place two venues in Mulhouse - the Espace Squash 3000
Centre and the Palais Des Sports where, for the first time, play is
taking place simultaneously on three ASB all-glass showcourts
spectacularly lined up side-by-side.
Lekgotla Mosope put Botswana ahead with an 11-1, 11-4, 12-10 victory
over Marcin Karwowski, but Pole Lukasz Stachowski fought back, beating
Koketso Ntshebe in four games to level proceedings.
It then took just 22 minutes for Walker, the US-based world No15, to
despatch Poland's top-ranked Wojtek Nowisz 11-7, 11-2, 11-5 to clinch
victory.
"It will definitely be good for squash in Botswana and will help us get
recognition from the relevant bodies," said Botswana Squash President
TK Rabasha afterwards. "It will give them an appreciation of what
squash can do for the country. And hopefully it will help us attract
sponsors.
"Ali encouraged us to be here - and I'm glad we came."
Walker, who developed his squash first in England, then in the US,
added: "I used to play in juniors with most of the team so we know each
other well and get on well."
The fourth member of the squad is 14-year-old Theo Pelonomi, surely one
of the youngest player ever to compete in the championship!
"Theo is very talented young boy who started playing tennis, but
switched to squash as soon as he was introduced to it," added President
Rabasha. "We hope he will benefit from exposure to squash at this
level."
Third seeds France faced Pakistan on the centre court at the end of the
day, and forged a 3/0 win over the former champions to extend their
leadership of Pool C. Thierry Lincou and Mathieu Castagnet earned
straight games wins over Farhan Zaman and Farhan Mehboob, respectively,
world No2 Gregory Gaultier beat Nasir Iqbal (both pictured below) 11-8,
11-8, 11-5 to maintain the hosts' clean sheet.
"I'm very pleased overall with the team's performance - they did the
job," said French national coach Renan Lavigne. "We have a lot of
respect for Pakistan, which is why we put out our strongest team - we
wanted to play with the top three to show that we were up for a big
match.
"Thierry gave us a great start and Mathieu put in a good performance -
Farhan has great racket skills and is certainly top 20 material.
"One thing that really touched me was that the Pakistan players wanted
to get their pictures taken with our players," added the former world
No17. "Yet years ago, when I was playing, it would have been the other
way round. That was quite significant.
"We're aiming for at least a top three position - but it would be great
to win the title for the first time, especially at home. But we know we
have strong opposition - we just have to take it one match at a time."
The top two seeds Egypt and England also posted 3/0 wins. Playing at
the Espace Centre, defending champions Egypt beat Scotland, while
second seeds England defeated 15th seeds Canada on the centre court in
the Palais des Sports.
"It's the first time on the glass court - and the major objective was
to win, of course, but also to get a good run out on the court,"
explained England national coach Chris Robertson.
"It's probably not unusual to see our players struggle in the first
games as they get used to the court after playing at the club
yesterday."
England's world No3 James Willstrop put the team ahead with a 19-minute
11-6, 11-8, 11-6 defeat of Canadian Dane Sharp. Both he and team-mate
Nick Matthew are celebrating their sixth successive appearances in the
event.
"This year's event is particularly special for me as I have had a long
association with the Mulhouse club in the French league," said
Willstrop. "I know a lot of people here and Thierry Jung has put a lot
into this event - he's a massive squash fan.
"This is an exciting event that doesn't come around that often so it's
good to make the most of it. And the set-up here is almost
revolutionary - I've never seen anything like it before, with three
glass courts side-by-side.
"It's squash moving forward, proving that it can do things in different ways - something other sports can't do."
Seeded eight and nine, respectively, India and Finland were sure to be
giving their all in their Pool H clash. But impressive performances by
Ramit Tandon, Mahesh Mangaonkar and Saurav Ghosal saw India record a
decisive 3/0 victory.
"I am delighted with the performance and result today," said Indian
national coach Cyrus Poncha. "Ramit was a class act, Mahesh was solid
and Saurav was simply superb. Overall it was a solid team effort."
In one of the longest ties of the day, sixth seeds Germany beat USA,
the No11 seeds, 2/1. Raphael Kandra put Germany ahead when former US
champion Julian Illingworth was forced to concede the match through
injury after the third game. A sparkling performance from retired US
pro Gilly Lane against Jens Schoor saw the underdogs draw level.
But a focussed bid by Simon Rosner saw the German number one beat
Christopher Gordon 7-11, 11-6, 11-6, 11-7 to give the sixth seeds their
second win of the championship.
"We expected it to be hard - and I feel sorry for Julian with his
injury - but we are happy with the outcome," said German team manager
Oliver Pettke. "It was a tie we needed to win and it's probably made it
easier for us in the second round. But now we have to do well against
the Czechs."
The only upset of the day took place in Pool G where 25/28 seeds Japan beat Austria, seeded in the 21/24 group, 2/1.
RESULTS: WSF Men's World Team Championship, Mulhouse, France
2nd qualifying round - Pool A (all ties played in team order 2, 3, 1):
[1] EGYPT bt [16] SCOTLAND 3/0
Omar Mosaad bt Greg Lobban 11-7, 12-10, 11-3 (46m)
Tarek Momen bt Douglas Kempsell 11-3, 11-2, 11-5 (25m)
Ramy Ashour bt Alan Clyne 11-6, 13-11, 11-7 (27m)
[17/20] KUWAIT bt [29/31] KENYA 3/0
Ammar Altamimi bt Rajdeep Bains 11-1, 11-3, 11-2 (16m)
Yousif Nizar Saleh bt Joseph Ndungu 11-4, 11-8, 11-1 (18m)
Abdullah Al Muzayen bt Kenneth Mwangi 11-1, 11-1, 11-4 (16m)
Pool B:
[2] ENGLAND bt [15] CANADA 3/0
James Willstrop bt Dane Sharp 11-6, 11-8, 11-6 (19m)
Daryl Selby bt David Letourneau 6-11, 11-2, 11-6, 11-5 (36m)
Nick Matthew bt Shawn Delierre 9-11, 11-1, 11-4, 11-6 (47m)
[17/20] COLOMBIA bt [29/31] NAMIBIA 3/0
Erick Herrera bt Andrew Forrest 11-8, 11-6, 11-6 (33m)
Andres Vargas bt Danie Greeff 11-3, 11-4, 11-6 (28m)
Miguel Angel Rodriguez bt Marco Becker 11-6, 11-5, 11-3
Pool F:
[6] GERMANY bt [11] USA 2/1
Raphael Kandra bt Julian Illingworth 6-11, 13-11, 11-4 ret. (40m)
Jens Schoor lost to Gilly Lane 8-11, 7-11, 11-7, 10-12 (58m)
Simon Rosner bt Christopher Gordon 7-11, 11-6, 11-6, 11-7 (57m)
[21/24] IRELAND bt [25/28] CZECH REPUBLIC 2/1
Derek Ryan lost to Petr Martin 11-6, 9-11, 9-11, 8-11 (61m)
Steve Richardson bt Ondrej Uherka 11-5, 11-9, 11-5 (52m)
Arthur Gaskin bt Ondrej Ertl 11-6, 9-11, 11-6, 11-6 (60m)
Pool G:
[7] SOUTH AFRICA bt [10] HONG KONG CHINA 3/0
Shaun le Roux bt Leo Au 11-5, 11-5, 6-11, 11-9 (78m)
Clinton Leeuw bt Yip Tsz Fung 6-11, 11-3, 11-9, 11-4 (44m)
Stephen Coppinger bt Max Lee 11-6, 11-6, 11-6
[25/28] JAPAN bt [21/24] AUSTRIA 2/1
Yuta Fukui bt Jakob Dirnberger 4-11, 11-5, 11-4, 11-5 (37m)
Ryosei Kobayashi bt Andreas Freudensprung 11-9, 11-8, 11-4 (30m)
Shinnosuke Tsukue lost to Aqeel Rehman 11-9, 10-12 ret. (25m)
Pool H:
[8] INDIA bt [9] FINLAND 3/0
Ramit Tandon bt Henrik Mustonen 11-4, 11-6, 11-13, 11-4 (31m)
Mahesh Mangaonkar bt Matias Tuomi 11-4, 11-7, 11-7 (28m)
Saurav Ghosal bt Olli Tuominen 11-7, 11-2, 7-11, 11-9 (51m)
[21/24] ARGENTINA bt [25/28] VENEZUELA 3/0
Juan Pablo Roude bt Miguel Mendez 11-4, 11-4, 11-3 (28m)
Leandro Romiglio bt Ricardo Teran 11-0, 11-2, 11-2 (15m)
Hernan D'Arcangelo bt Gabriel Teran 11-6, 11-7, 11-3
