Home of WSF World Junior Squash Championships 18 – 29th July 2023, Melbourne Australia
Top eight through to quarters as Malaysia pip Hong Kong
The second day of Pool matches, with four rounds of play and the quarter-final places to be decided. The top eight seeds all booked their places in tomorrow evening’s quarter-finals, with Egypt, USA and England topping Pools A, B and C as expected.
Malaysia came from a game down to beat fourth seeds Hong Kong in the Pool D decider, earning themselves a last eight match against New Zealand while Hong Kong meet England.
In the other quarter-finals defending champions Egypt meet India while second seeds USA face Canada.
Sat – Teams Day TWO
10.30
Pool C England 3-0 Zimbabwe, France 2-1 Belgium
Pool D Hong Kong 3-0 Guyana, Germany 3-0 Netherlands
All to seeding in the opening matches, although with the number ones playing first Tinne Gilis was able to put Belgium ahead against France, who duly took the next two ties to seal the win.
12.30
Pool A Egypt 3-0 South Africa, Canada 2-1 Switzerland
Pool B USA 3-0 Finland, India 2-1 Australia
Top seeds Egypt and USA made it two wins out of two quickly enough, but it was less straightforward for India and Canada to stay on course for the quarter-finals against their closest pool rivals Australia and Switzerland.
Lakeesha Rarere put the Aussies ahead in a five-game thriller, but the Indians bounced back to win 2-1. Canada looked to be cruising at 1-0 and 2-0 but Celine Walser fought back to level the match leaving it to Madlen O’Connor to take the decider for Canada.
17.00
Pool C England 3-0 New Zealand, Belgium 3-0 Zimbabwe
Pool D Hong Kong 1-2 Malaysia, Netherlands 3-0 Guyana
Two Pool deciders as England beat New Zealand to maintain their run of 3-0 victories, but in the Pool D decider Malaysia came from one-nil down to beat fourth seeds Hong Kong to top position.
“They all played well,” said Malaysian coach Andrew Cross, “but we haven’t won anything yet, now we need to prepare for tomorrow’s quarter-final.”
19.00
Pool A Egypt 3-0 Canada, Switzerland 3-0 South Africa
Pool B USA 3-0 India, Australia 2-1 Finland
Already through to the quarters with two wins each, Egypt v Canada and USA v India decided the finishing order in the pools, and it was defending champions Egypt and second seeds USA who prevailed to round off the Pools A and B group stage.
Sunday sees the last four Pool A and Pool B matches at 10.30, with the quarter-finals at 17.00 and 19.00
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