Dec 13: The triumph marked England’s first-ever win over Australia in a world final since 1991
Spirited England rose to the occasion as they rallied to beat long time rivals Australia 2-1, in the final of the 21st ICL World Men's Team Squash Championship, to retain their title at the ICL Squash Academy courts here on Wednesday.
Defending champions England made a remarkable comeback after losing the first match to score a convincing 2-1 victory over their opponents, registering the first-ever title victory over Australia since 1991.
The rousing final started off between the clash of Titans from either teams. It was a battle among the teams' number ones, with Australia's former world champion David Palmer, ranked four in the world, facing Nick Matthew, the world No5 from England.
Their previous encounters tally showed Palmer 11-5 ahead, and he continued to back his stats by capturing the first two games with a same score of 11-9. But the Englishman bounced back to restore parity by winning the fourth game for just two points. However, the experienced Aussie kept his cool and clinched the deciding game 11-4.
The first game took the maximum time 82 minutes in respect to other two games with David Palmer got the better off Nick Matthew 11-9, 11-9, 7-11, 2-11 and 11-4.
James Willstrop returned to Chennai after almost five years, he won the world junior individual championship on the same courts, the 24-year-old Englishman repeated his act by overpowering Stewart Boswell 11-6, 11-7, 12-10 to level the tie. Willstrop only faced some resistance from Boswell in the final game, which he won on extra points.
In the deciding game, Englishman Peter Barker, in his maiden appearance in a world team championship, delivered an assured performance as he defeated Cameron Pilley, also a newcomer 11-6, 11-4, 11-8 in an exactly one-hour to seal the title in England’s favour.
"We were represented by an exceptional group of players," said England Squash Chief Executive Nick Rider after the team's success.
"Winning a world championship is difficult enough - and retaining it so convincingly is testament to the courage and determination of these world-class guys. We are immensely proud of them," he added.
In the classification matches for third place, third seeds France beat favourites Egypt 2/0, and Malaysia recorded their best ever finish by beating Canada with the same margin in the fifth place play-off. Hosts India marked their best finish since 1979, despite losing to Netherlands in the seventh place play-off.
First timers Sri Lanka, Venezuela and Chinese Taipei finished at 26th, 27th and 29th places, respectively.
The FIH President, Els van Breda Vriesman gave away the prizes to the winners and runners-up. Heather Daton, Vice-President, WSF, Prof. Sarah Springman, President, Triathlon Federation of England, and N. Ramachandran, Secretary-General, SRFI were also graced the occasion.
Final Results: England bt Australia 2-1 (Nick Mathews lost to David Palmer 9-11, 9-11, 11-7, 11-2, 4-11; James Willstrop bt Stewart Boswell 11-6, 11-7, 12-10; Peter Barker bt Cameron Pilley 11-6, 11-4, 11-8).
Classification Matches
3-4: France bt Egypt 2-0 (Gregory Gaultier bt Amr Shabana 11-2, 11-7, 9-11, 11-3; Thierry Lincou bt Wael Elhendy 11-4, 6-11, 11-5, 11-3).
5-6: Malaysia bt Canada 2-0 (Mohd. Azlan Bin Iskandar bt Shahir Razik 11-10 (2-0), 11-10 (3-1), 11-5; Ong Beng Hee bt Mathew Giuffre 11-7, 11-6, 11-7).
7-8: Netherlands bt India 2-0 (Laurens Jan Anjema bt Saurav Ghosal 11-10 (3-1), 11-4, 11-4; Dylan Bennett bt Ritwik Bhattacharya 11-6, 11-4, 11-7).
Positions 9 to 29: Pakistan, Wales, South Africa, Ireland, New Zealand, USA, Hong Kong, Germany, Sweden, Scotland, Spain, Japan, Finland, Kuwait, Kenya, Austria, Sri Lanka, Bermuda, Russia, Venezuela and Chinese Taipei.
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