CANADA OVER AUSTRALIA 2-1

[Also: teams competition POOL DRAW]

Canadian manager Arthur Hough was lauding the effort of his No.3 Andrew McDougall after his team’s 2-1 victory over Australia on the first day of pool play in the teams’ event at the 14th Prince world junior men’s squash championships in Palmerston North.

The Canadians looked strong in defeating Australia 2-1. Photo 2006 © e-pics.

McDougall had to play the vital third match with the pool D tie level at a match apiece, and he came to the party in beating Australia’s Matt Reece 9-6 9-5 9-3 in 39 minutes. The victor had a disappointing individual championship, losing in the first round when seeded 17th to 32nd, and making little impact in the plate.

Hough said it resulted in McDougall being dropped from No.2 to No.3 for the teams’ event. He was steadiness personified against Reece, which was of considerable comfort for Hough.

“We needed a good performance from Andrew, and what we got was what we know he is capable of,” Hough said.

“Though we’re seeded fifth and the Aussies are 12th they are always tough to play. They kept us honest, which was about what I was expecting from them.”

Canadian No. 1 Keith Pritchard gave the team a perfect start with a 9-6 9-2 9-4 win over his opposite, and individual plate winner, Zac Alexander, in 43 minutes. However, Australian No. 2 Nathan Stevenson redressed the balance with a tenacious 9-3 9-5 4-9 8-10 9-1 win over Canadian David Letourneau in 58 minutes.

The Canadians next play 13th seeds New Zealand, who lost 3-0 in its opening match against the top seed in their pool, Malaysia.

In pool C the United States belied its lowly 14th seeding with a gusty effort against the sixth seed Germany before succumbing 3-0. Not surprisingly the US’s Trevor McGuiness was out of his depth in the No.1 clash against individual event fourth seed Simon Roser, being clattered 9-3 9-0 9-0 in just 19 minutes.

The Americans were well served though by a weary Mark Froot at No.2 and Reed Endresen at No.3. They extended their 16-year-old opponents, Norman Junge and Florian Silbernagl respectively to five games without being able to deliver the necessary killer punch.
Poor Froot, playing his eighth match in seven days, was on court for 82 minutes before Junge had the better of him, 9-10 10-9 9-6 3-9 9-6. In the fifth Junge had match ball at 8-2 but Froot refused to quit despite looking shattered.

Malaysia easily eased past the first day of pool competition. Photo 2006 © e-pics.

He survived two other match balls at 8-2 before staging a rally almost as good as that against Alexander in losing the plate final the previous day as he crept up to 8-6 before Junge finally did the business with his fourth match ball.

German coach Barry Dodson was unimpressed with Junge allowing Froot back in to the match, impressing upon him afterwards the need to finish the job when you have your opponent at your mercy.

Though Endresen’s match was a dead one with the overall result already decided he dug in case the match statistics might have some bearing in case of a countback in settling on the top two teams in pool C.

The director of United States Squash Vijay Chitnis praised the efforts of Froot and Endresen against a team seeded eight places higher, and said he believed the team was unlucky to be seeded so low.

New Zealand’s No.1 Evan Williams went close to avenging his first round loss to Elvinn Keo, of Malaysia, in the individual event in pushing Keo to five games on the same court where they met in the individual.

The first occasion also went to five games, and Keo went through to the last 16. In their latest match both players started nervously. There were numerous unforced errors, and Keo repeatedly looked to his coach for guidance before the match finally settled down.
Backed by an appreciative gallery Williams picked up the momentum, and pressured Keo with the quality of his play in winning the fourth game 9-5 to take the match to the decider. He quickly leapt ahead 3-0 in the fifth as Keo looked uncertain before the Malaysian displayed a steely resolve in winning six straight points from trailing 3-4 to grab the honours.

Had Williams won it would have put the fourth seeded Malaysians under unexpected pressure. Instead it held the initiative, and there was disappointment New Zealand No. 2 Josh Thom lost so easily to Kam Hing Choong 9-2 9-0 9-3. New Zealand coach Robbie Wyatt commented on Thom’s lack of fight with the match all over in 16 minutes.
Wyatt and New Zealand’s national coach Dave Clarke were encouraged by Williams’s efforts. Clarke said the 16-year-old was “just a little bit green”, and he would be a better player for his experiences over the fortnight looking toward him playing at the next world championships in Switzerland.

He was pleased with Williams’ ability to change his tactics as the match demanded, and ability to pressure Keo but less so not being able to close out the match when in a position to.

2006 World Jr Men, Team Pools Day One RESULTS:
Sunday 23 July 2:00pm - Malaysia vs New Zealand – Malaysia won 3-0
Choong Kam Hing (MAS) bt Josh Thom (NZL) 9-2 9-0 9-3
Elvinn Keo (MAS) bt Evan Williams (NZL) 9-10 9-5 9-3 5-9 9-4
Ivan Yuen (MAS) bt Christopher Lloyd (NZL) 9-0 8-10 9-0 9-3

Sunday 23 July 2:00pm - Canada vs Australia – Canada won 2-1
Keith Pritchard (CAN) bt Zac Alexander (AUS) 9-6 9-2 9-4
Nathan Steveson (AUS) bt David Letourneau (CAN) 9-3 9-5 4-9 8-10 9-1
Andrew McDougall (CAN) bt Matt Reece (AUS) 9-6 9-5 9-3

Sunday 23 July 2:00pm - England vs Switzerland – England won 3-0
Adrian Waller (ENG) bt Reiko Peter (SUI) 9-0 9-7 9-1
Joe Lee (ENG) bt Benjamin Fischer (SUI) 9-1 9-5 9-2
Tom Pashley (ENG) bt Nicolas Mueller (SUI) 9-6 9-5 9-4

Sunday 23 July 2:00pm - Germany vs United States – Germany won 3-0
Simon Rosner (GER) bt Trevor McGuinness (USA) 9-3 9-0 9-0
Norman Junge (GER) bt Mark Froot (USA) 8-10 10-9 9-6 3-9 9-6
Florian Sibernagl (GER) bt Reed Endresen (USA) 9-3 1-9 7-9 9-3 9-5

Sunday 23 July 6:00pm - Egypt vs Hong Kong – Egypt won 3-0
Ramy Ashour (EGY) bt Max Lee (HKG) 9-5 9-1 9-3
Tarek Momen (EGY) bt Leo Au (HKG) 9-1 9-3 9-6
Mohd Ali Anwar Reda (EGY) bt Alan Tsang (HKG) 9-1 9-0 9-0

Sunday 23 July 6:00pm - Netherlands vs Japan – Netherlands won
Tom Hoevenaars (NED) bt Yuuta Fukui (JAP) 9-3 9-1 9-2
Bastiaan Meulen (NED) bt Bumpei Kawano (JAP) 9-1 9-3 9-1
Shinnosuke Tsukue (JAP) bt Frank Hartkoon (NED)  9-10 5-9 9-5 9-6 9-7  

Sunday 23 July 6:00pm - Pakistan vs South Africa – Pakistan won 3-0
Aamir Atlas Khan (PAK) bt Richard Colburn (RSA) 9-2 9-2 9-1
Yasir Butt (PAK) bt Rudi Willemse (RSA) 9-1 9-0 9-0
Farhan Nehboob (PAK) bt Richard Dodd (RSA) 9-6 9-0 9-2

Sunday 23 July 6:00pm - India vs Zimbabwe – India won 3-0
Sandeep Jangra (IND) bt Deepesh Patel (ZIM) 9-6 9-1 9-5
Harinder Pal Sandhu (IND) bt Ahmed Hassan (ZIM) 9-2 9-5 9-6
Naresh Kumr (IND) bt Zardeen Wazir (ZIM) 9-4 9-1 9-0