England pip holders Pakistan in world junior squash

Chennai, Jul 27 (PTI) Third seeds England prevailed over defending champions Pakistan 2-1 in the quarterfinals of the WSF World Junior squash team championship here today.

James Wyatt came through in a five-game affair against Muhammad Uzair to put England ahead before Nick Wall beat Abbas Zeb in four games to seal a last-four spot for the team.

Wall looked in control in the first two games before Zeb pulled one back. The Englishman roared back to win the fourth and take the match 11-9 11-6 7-11 11-6 in 46 minutes to signal the team's entry into the semis.

Harris Qasim secured a consolation point for Pakistan, putting it across Sam Todd in the final match, shortened to best of three games.

In a dramatic match, Canada's top player Julien Gosset was on match ball, and had to concede the match to USA's Daelum Mawji. The net result was Canada, which was on the verge of a 2-0 win, had to await the outcome of the third singles and as it happened USA pipped the second seeds 2-1 with Thomas Rosilin winning a crucial match over Canada's George Crowne.

In a turnaround of fortunes, Julien was leading 2-1 in game score and was on 10-7 when he slipped, fell and suffered a hamstring injury. Worse, he had concede the match after finding himself unable to move on the court.

The Canadian had made a brave attempt to restart play after medical attention but it was Mawji who moved ahead and brought the score to 11-10 in his favour when Julien threw in the towel, shook hands with his opponent and walked out in tears.

What seemed a routine win instantly swung into a different plane.

Earlier, favourite and No.1 seed Egypt outclassed Hong Kong (seeded 9) 3-0 while Czech Republic, the sixth-seeded team caused a minor upset by putting it across No.4 seed Malaysia 2-0.

In the play-off for the 9th-16th places, India edged out Germany 2-1 thanks to Utkarsh Baheti's win over Maximillian Baum (11-9 11-4 12-10) after top player Yash Fadte had succumbed to Abdel-Rahman Ghait in five games.

Results: Quarterfinals: Egypt (1) bt Hong Kong (9) 3-0; Czech Republic (6) beat Malaysia (4) 2-0; England (3) bt Pakistan (11) 2-1; USA vs Canada (2) 2-1