Defending champions and top seeds England will face second seeds Pakistan in
the final of the Men's World Junior Team Squash Championships after 2-1 victories in today's (Friday) semi-finals in Chennai, India. The clash will mark Pakistan's first appearance in the final since 1988, the year that four-times winners England last failed to reach the climax.

After beating hosts India in the earlier quarter-finals, also by a 2-1 margin, England faced fourth seeds Egypt in a repeat of the last three years' finals. Newly-crowned world individual champion James Willstrop - playing in his sixth successive match for his country in four days - comfortably beat Egypt's No1 Moustafa Essam 3-0, then an England victory seemed a formality when squad No3 Ashley Flathers won the first two games against Sherif Kamal. However, the Egyptian slowed his game down, whereupon Flathers began to hit the tin too often and his opponent pulled it back to 2-2. Flathers went 7-3 up in the decider and the Egyptian campaign seemed beaten. Kamal, however, showed great fighting spirit and reached match ball. From 8-8, match balls went to each player, until finally after 109 minutes Flathers claimed a 9-6 9-1 5-9 5-9 10-9 victory in the match - and the tie - much to the relief of the England supporters.

Pakistan followed a 3-0 quarter-final win over sixth seeds Mexico with a similarly tense 2-1 victory against third seeds Australia. Top string Khayal Muhammad comfortably overcame Australian No1 Jhie Gough in straight games before Australia fought back when Luke Margan twice foiled comebacks by Safeerullah Khan to beat the Pakistani 10-9 6-9 10-8 4-9 9-7 to level the tie. However Majid Khan swiftly disposed of Australian Aaron Frankcomb 9-0 9-7 9-0 to see Pakistan into the final for the first time in 14 years.

Home interest was maintained when Siddarth Suchde and Gaurav Nandrajog both won against Canadian opposition to put India into the play-off for a 5th
place - their previous best finish being 15th in 1992. India will face Mexico, who brought the USA run to a shuddering halt. In only their second time in the event, Mexico will considerably improve on their 23rd place finish in 2000 in Italy - as will USA, in a 7th-place play-off against Canada, after a previous best finish of 10th in 1984.

Lower down the order, 14th seeds Kuwait continued their good form with a win over 7th seeds Netherlands and 11th seeds New Zealand to earn a play-off for 9th place against 12th seeds Malaysia - and the certainty of bettering five successive finishes outside the top twenty nations.

Quarter-finals:
[1]England bt [5]India 2-1 (James Willstrop bt Siddarth Suchde 9-4, 9-7,
9-3; Jon Harford bt Gaurav Nandrajog 9-7, 10-8, 9-5; Peter Barker lost to
Saurav Ghosal 0-3 ret.)
[4]Egypt bt [9]Canada 3-0 (Moustafa Essam bt Matthew Serediak 9-0, 9-1, 9-2;
Sherif Moustafa Kamal bt Robin Clarke 9-5, 9-2, 9-2; Ahmed Mohsen Hassan bt
Brian Ernst 9-5, 9-4, 9-0)
[3]Australia bt [10]USA 3-0 (Jhie Gough bt Julian Illingworth 9-6, 3-9, 6-9,
9-6, 9-7; Luke Margan bt Michael Gilman 9-2, 9-0, 9-5; Aaron Frankcomb bt
Christopher Gordon 9-0, 9-0, 9-0)
[2]Pakistan bt [6]Mexico 3-0 (Khayal Muhammad bt Eric Galvez 10-9, 9-2, 9-2;
Safeerullah Khan bt Manuel Fregoso 9-2, 9-0, 9-0; Majid Khan bt Jose Becerril
9-1, 9-2, 9-0)
Semi-finals:
[1]England bt [4]Egypt 2-1 (James Willstrop bt Moustafa Essam 9-1, 9-4, 9-4;
Ashley Flathers bt Sherif Kamal 9-6, 9-1, 5-9, 5-9, 10-9; Peter Barker lost
to Ahmed Mohsen Hassan 8-9, 3-9, 0-9)
[2]Pakistan bt [3]Australia 2-1 (Khayal Muhammad bt Jhie Gough 9-2, 9-3,
9-3; Safeerullah Khan lost to Luke Margan 9-10, 9-6, 8-10, 9-4, 7-9; Majid
Khan bt Aaron Frankcomb 9-0, 9-7, 9-0)
5th - 8th place play-offs:
[5]India bt [9]Canada 3-0 (Siddarth Suchde bt Matthew Serediak 10-8, 9-0,
9-7; Gaurav Nandrajog bt Robin Clarke 7-9, 9-5, 9-2, 9-4; Saurav Ghosal bt
Brian Ernst 9-3, 7-9, 9-5, 9-0)
[6]Mexico bt [10]USA 3-0 (Eric Galvez bt Julian Illingworth 9-5, 9-2, 9-5;
Manuel Fregoso bt Nicholas Chirls 9-1, 9-0, 9-7; Jose Becerril bt Christopher
Gordon 9-4, 10-8, 9-0)

9th - 16th place play-offs:
[12]Malaysia bt [8]Wales 3-0 (Timothy Arnold bt Rob Sutherland 9-6, 9-6,
0-9, 10-8; Moh'd Nafzahizam bt Lewys Hurst 9-6, 9-6, 9-6; Wong Kim Lee bt
Jethro Binns 9-4, 9-2, 9-0)
[16]Switzerland bt [13]Scotland 2-1 (Marco Datwyler bt Kristen Johnson 9-0,
9-5, 9-3; Diego Staub bt Ian Murray 9-6, 9-6, 9-2; Manuel Grima lost to Harry
Leitch 5-9, 3-9, 0-9)
[11]New Zealand bt [15]Hong Kong 2-1 (Shaun Sansom bt Dick Lau 9-4, 9-8,
9-3; Martin Knights lost to Vincent Yu 10-9, 6-9, 5-9, 2-9; Oliver Johnston
bt Patrick Choi 9-3, 9-5, 9-6)
[14]Kuwait bt [7]Netherlands 2-1 (Bader Hussaini bt Dylan Bennett 10-8, 9-6,
9-7; Ali Alramezi bt Maarten Van Bavel 10-8, 9-1, 9-2; Nasser Alramezi lost
to Piedro Schweertman 5-9, 5-9, 0-9)
9th - 12th place play-offs:
[12]Malaysia bt [16]Switzerland 2-1 (Timothy Arnold lost to Marco Datwyler
4-9, 3-9, 0-9; Moh'd Nafzahizam bt Diego Staub 9-1, 9-1, 9-3; Wong Kim Lee bt
Manuel Grima 9-5, 9-6, 9-2)
[14]Kuwait bt [11]New Zealand 3-0 (Bader Hussaini bt Shaun Sansom 9-6, 9-2,
9-2; Ali Alramezi bt Martin Knights 9-5, 9-3, 10-8; Nasser Alramezi bt Oliver
Johnston 9-0, 9-0, 9-0)
13th - 16th place play-offs:
[8]Wales bt [13]Scotland 3-0 (Rob Sutherland bt Kristen Johnson 9-4, 9-6,
9-3; Lewys Hurst bt Alistair Gorrie 9-3, 9-2, 9-4; Jethro Binns bt Harry
Leitch 3-9, 9-2, 9-2, 9-0)
[7]Netherlands bt [15]Hong Kong 3-0 (Dylan Bennett bt Dick Lau 9-7, 9-1,
9-3; Tom Hoevenaars bt Ho Ming Chiu 9-5, 5-9, 9-6, 9-3; Piedro Schweertman bt Patrick Choi 9-4, 9-2, 9-0)
17th - 19th place play-offs:
[17]Ireland bt [18]Zimbabwe 2-1 (Brian Byrne lost to Shaun Johnstone 6-9,
7-9, 0-9; Dermot MacNamara bt Neil Robertson 9-5, 9-5, 9-5; Arthur Gaskin bt
Patrick Stevens 9-7, 7-9, 9-4, 10-9)