Teams Semis : Egypt and Malaysia through to the Final

Team Semi-Finals day in KL, with the top four seeds battling it out on the glass court …

Egypt ease into a ninth final, Malaysia hold their nerve

Defending champions Egypt eased through to a ninth successive final as they comprehensively beat fourth seeds England.

With individual Gold, Silver and Bronze medalists to call on, the top seeds were heavy favourites and so it proved as Jana Shiha then Hania El Hammamy wrapped up the match in under 40 minutes with Farida Mohamed winning the dead rubber.

Then second seeded hosts Malaysia took on Asian rivals Hong Kong, the third seeds, in a repeat of their Asian Junior teams final earlier this year.

Chan Yiwen got Malaysia off to a flying start with a quickfire win, and when Aifa Azman took the first 11-2 the hosts looked to be challenging the Egyptians in the quick finish stakes. But Chan Sin Yuk fought back to take the second before Aifa squeezed home 14-12 in the third to regain the lead.

Aifa had a big lead in the fourth but  Sin Yuk pegged it back, eventually saving four match balls before levelling again, 15-13.

Another big lead for Aifa in the fifth, another HK fightback and it was a by now very nervous Aifa who finally closed out the match 11-9, in front of a packed, excited crowd which included the newly-crowned King of Malaysia.

Meanwhile in the playoff matches, USA and India won the 5/8 semis, Canada notched up two wins in the 9-12 Pool, and Sweden and Japan won the 13-18 semifinals.

 

Time, Rnd, Team 1, RES, Team 2, Ct

11.00, 5/8 SF, India, 2-0, Australia, C2
11.00, 9/12 RR, France, 1-2, South Africa, C3
11.00, 9/12 RR, Canada, 2-1, New Zealand, GC
11.00, 13/18 SF, Sweden, 2-1, Ireland, C7
,,,,,
15.00, SEMI, [1] Egypt, 3-0 , [4] England, GC
18.00, SEMI, [2] Malaysia, 2-0 , [3] Hong Kong, GC
,,,,,
18.00, 5/8 SF, USA, 3-0, Switzerland, C2
18.00, 9/12 RR, France, 0-3, New Zealand, C3
18.00, 9/12 RR, Canada, 3-0, South Africa, C4
18.00, 13/18 SF, Korea, 0-2, Japan, C7