Category: "teams"

In a dramatic clash which went the full distance, favourites Egypt eventually overcame surprise opponents India 2/1 in the final of the WSF Under-21 World Cup to deny the hosts a historic 1st world title in the inaugural World Squash Federation event in Chennai.

The crowd erupted – shouting and screaming more than ever before – to support their local heroes playing on the unique ASB GlassCourt at the Express Avenue Mall which attracted a near record crowd of over 75,000 on the day that India were playing in the 1st world squash final in the country’s history.

The Express Avenue Mall, southern India’s largest shopping complex attracted a near record crowd of over 75,000 on the day that India were playing in the 1st world squash final in the country’s history. Throughout the long final, a significant percentage of the crowd were either surrounding the unique ASB GlassCourt or hanging over balconies of the 3 floors overlooking the spectacular all-glass showcourt which features a pioneering new glass floor with under-floor LED lighting.

It was a tall order for the hosts in the opening match where team No1 Ravi Dixit, ranked 183 in the world, faced Egypt’s world No33 Marwan El Shorbagy, the highest-ranked man in the tournament. The Delhi-born 20-year-old threw everything he had at the in-form world junior champion – and recovered from 2/0 down to win the 3rd game, but El Shorbagy, still only 18, stamped his authority on the next game to win 11-4, 11-7, 7-11, 11-7 in 58 minutes – and put the favourites into the lead.

But the match of the championship then followed – in which the star of Indian squash Dipika Pallikal, the highest-ranked woman in the event, faced Egyptian rival Nour El Sherbini. The head-to-head record between the pair was one-all – but 20-year-old Pallikal is currently ranked 14 in the world, nine places above the 16-year-old former world junior champion from Alexandria.

Chennai born-and-bred Pallikal took the opening game, but to the dismay of the crowd, Sherbini won the next two to move ahead. The Egyptian maintained her control of the match to march on to match-ball at 10-6. But Pallikal was not about to concede and, urged on by the exuberant crowd, clawed her way back into the game – saving 4 match-balls to draw level.

The crowd erupted – shouting and screaming more than ever before – and it as some time before the local heroine was able to resume play. Twice more Sherbini moved to within a single point of the title – and twice Pallikal fought back before finally converting her own first game ball – having saved six match-balls – to win the game 14-12.

With crowd scenes and screams rarely witnessed before at a squash event, Pallikal returned to the court inspired. After losing two points from 8-3 up, she returned the next serve into the nick, delivered a delicate back hand drop shot again into the nick before winning the third on a no let to claim a sensational 11-7, 4-11, 8-11, 14-12, 11-5 victory after 74 long minutes.

Pallikal was besieged by delirious fans and TV crews before speaking briefly to the crowd via the tournament MC. Later, the Indian champion who is now coached by Australian legend Sarah Fitz-Gerald, admitted that the match had been her toughest of all-time. “I spoke to Sarah this morning and I knew she’d be watching – and all I could think about, when I was match-ball down, was what would I tell her when we next spoke. “She had told me to keep going until the very end – the game’s not over until somebody wins – and that’s where I got my strength and confidence,” explained Pallikal.

With the crowd now sensing a shock victory, the semi-final hero Ramit Tandon took to the court to face Egypt’s Karim Abdel Gawad in the decider. Gawad, a 20-year-old ranked 42 in the world, took the 1 game after a tie-break and then moved 2/0 ahead. But spurred on by the increasingly noisy crowd, Kolkata-born Tandon – ranked almost 300 places below his opponent – battled hard and took the 3rd game to reduce the deficit.

But as the Egyptian reclaimed the advantage in the 4th, the crowd became more muted until Gawad eventually clinched his third match-ball to win 12-10, 11-4, 6-11, 11-8 after 67 minutes to earn the title for Egypt.

“It was a quality match for both sides – but I’m happy we did it for the second time,” said Egyptian coach Amir Wagih, making reference to his country’s victory almost 12 months earlier in the senior World Cup in Chennai.

Indian national coach Cyrus Poncha was not wholly unhappy with the outcome: “If someone had said to me a week ago that we would be in the final, I would have taken it. What we achieved to get this far was brilliant – and today’s performances by our players were outstanding.

Final:
[1] EGYPT bt [4] INDIA 2/1
Marwan El Shorbagy bt Ravi Dixit 11-4, 11-7, 7-11, 11-7 (58m)
Nour El Sherbini lost to Dipika Pallikal 7-11, 11-4, 11-8, 12-14, 5-11 (74m)
Karim Abdel Gawad bt Ramit Tandon 12-10, 11-4, 6-11, 11-8 (67m)

Bronze medal play-off:
[2] ENGLAND bt [3] FRANCE 2/0
Charles Sharpes bt Lucas Serme 14-12, 7-11, 5-11, 11-6, 11-5 (76m)
Emily Whitlock bt Cyrielle Peltier 11-5, 11-7, 11-7 (31m)
Declan James v Geoffrey Demont (match withdrawn)

5th place play-off:
[6] HONG KONG CHINA bt [5] AUSTRALIA 2/0
Yeung Ho Wai bt Jamie McErvale 4-11, 12-10, 11-7, 11-5 (58m)
Tong Tsz-Wing bt Sarah Cardwell 7-11, 7-11, 11-9, 11-5, 14-12 (70m)
Cheuk Yan Tang v Walter Koteka (match withdrawn)

7th place play-off:
[7] MALAYSIA bt [8] GERMANY 2/1
Affeeq Abedeen Ismail lost to Rudi Rohrmuller 7-11, 3-11, 7-11 (30m)
Rachel Arnold bt Franziska Hennes 11-13, 11-6, 6-11, 11-5, 11-7 (50m)
Sanjay Singh bt Valentin Rapp 11-4, 11-3, 11-2 (42m)

Indian number 2 Ramit Tandon survived a nail-biting decider in the WSF Under-21 World Cup semi-finals against France take the hosts into Sunday’s climax of the inaugural event – thus marking India’s first ever appearance in a world squash final.

The clash on the unique ASB GlassCourt – an all-glass show court featuring a pioneering new glass floor with under-floor LED lighting – in the atrium of the largest shopping complex in southern India attracted a rolling crowd of some 50,000 partisan spectators, watching the action from vantage points on four floors.

Underdogs India, the 4th seeds, opened their account against 3rd seeds France with Ravi Dixit taking on Frenchman Lucas Serme. The quality of the match which ensued belied the pair’s world rankings – 183 and 139, respectively – and after 65 minutes it was Serme who claimed the advantage, beating the 20-year-old from Chennai 11-6, 8-11, 11-6, 11-7.

“It was good playing in front of this great crowd – but I had to try and block them out and think of my team,” said the 19-year-old Frenchman. “I really enjoyed the match and I am very happy to win.

After the subdued reaction from the crowd, the decibels increased noticeably as local heroine Dipika Pallikal, the Chennai born and bred 20-year-old who boasts a world No14 ranking, took apart France’s Chloe Mesic 11-3, 11-4, 11-5 in just 26 minutes to bring the hosts back into contention.

Kolkata-born Ramit Tandon has seen his world ranking slip to 333 since taking up an Economics course at Columbia University in the USA last year. But the 19-year-old showed no signs of inferiority as he battled with Frenchman Geoffrey Demont, ranked almost 200 places higher.

Dixit took the opener, then responded to the Frenchman’s second game win by capturing the 3rd for the loss of just two points. Demont led briefly in the dramatic 4th – but it was Dixit who kept his focus to reach match-ball at 10-6. The Frenchman saved 4 before going on to have his own game-ball – but, urged on by the crowd and his hysterical team-mates, the local star finally clinched victory at the 6th attempt 11-5, 6-11, 11-2, 14-12 after 57 minutes to take his country into a historic final.

The crowd went wild and Dixit was quickly engulfed by his team-mates and other supporters on the court. “We’ve worked hard for this – but I did feel a lot of pressure in that match,” admitted the beaming Indian star afterwards. “At 10-6 in the 4th, I just got too excited and made too many errors. But my team helped me through.

After winning her earlier match, Pallikal said: “It was disappointing that we lost the 1st match – but I had to go on and just play my game.” After the match which followed, the Indian champion added: “It was a nerve-wracking – but Ramit played incredibly well and it was a great result to get us into the final. “It’s something we’ve all trained hard for – and it’s great that it’s happened here in Chennai.”

Indian national coach Cyrus Poncha was beaming from ear to ear: “It’s an absolutely wonderful feeling – and just great for Indian squash. “It’s good to show the results of all the efforts over the last ten years – started by the commitment by Mr Ramachandran, now the WSF President, to invest in the Indian Squash Academy which has produced so many talented young players – including all the ones tonight.

In the earlier semi-final, favourites Egypt overcame England – but the 2nd seeds surprisingly forced the tie into a decider after 17-year-old Emily Whitlock celebrated “my best win ever” by beating world junior champion Nour El Tayeb for the 1st time.

Marwan El Shorbagy, the rapidly improving world junior champion who now boasts a world ranking of 33, put Egypt into the lead as expected – but England’s Charles Sharpes stretched the match to 4 games before the 18-year-old from Alexandria claimed his 11-7, 12-14, 11-4, 11-6 win after 50 minutes.

El Tayeb had won the three previous encounters with Whitlock and now boasts a world ranking of 18 after leaping to 12 three months ago. But it was a ‘new-look’ Whitlock, ranked 15 places lower, who took to the court on this occasion – and after 41 minutes of dazzling squash came away with an 11-8, 12-10, 11-9 victory, in all three games coming from behind.

England’s hopes of a place in the final were dashed however when the Egyptian number two Karim Abdel Gawad beat tall 18-year-old Declan James 11-7, 11-8, 11-9. “There was a lot of pressure on that match – but it’s a dream that we’re now playing in the final,” said Gawad, the world No42 from Alexandria, afterwards.

Egypt coach Amir Wagih acknowledged that the tie had lived up to expectations: “Matches with England always have a special atmosphere, like last year’s senior World Cup final, and today was no exception. Emily played a great game which meant that all the pressure was on Karim. “And I am so pleased for him because he just missed out on being able to play in the world junior championship by two days. He deserves to be in a world final – he’s a quality player.”

Official website (including free live streaming and video on-demand): www.wsfworldcup.com

Semi-finals:
[1] EGYPT bt [2] ENGLAND 2/1
Marwan El Shorbagy bt Charles Sharpes 11-7, 12-14, 11-4, 11-6 (50m)
Nour El Tayeb lost to Emily Whitlock 8-11, 10-12, 9-11 (41m)
Karim Abdel Gawad bt Declan James 11-7, 11-8, 11-9

[4] INDIA bt [3] FRANCE 2/1
Ravi Dixit lost to Lucas Serme 6-11, 11-8, 6-11, 7-11 (65m)
Dipika Pallikal bt Chloe Mesic 11-3, 11-4, 11-5 (26m)
Ramit Tandon bt Geoffrey Demont 11-5, 6-11, 11-2, 14-12 (57m)

5th – 8th place play-offs:
[5] AUSTRALIA bt [7] MALAYSIA 3/0
Jamie McErvale bt Affeeq Abedeen Ismail 9-11, 11-9, 11-5, 13-11 (63m)
Sarah Cardwell bt Tan Yan Xin 11-6, 12-10, 11-9 (35m)
Walter Koteka bt Sanjay Singh 11-6, 11-6, 11-9 (35m)

[6] HONG KONG CHINA bt [8] GERMANY 2/1
Yeung Ho Wai bt Valentin Rapp 11-9, 11-9, 11-6 (50m)
Karman Siu lost to Annika Wiese 10-12, 9-11, 11-8, 11-8, 9-11 (43m)
Wong Chi-Him bt Sven Lemmermann 11-5, 11-9, 11-5 (30m)