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Men's World Day 1
by Elspeth Burnside Oct 22, 2001 © 2001 Elspeth Burnside and Squashtalk
[last update was 22-oct-01 ]

Netherlands over Scotland
 [Men's Pool Draw] [Men's Teams]

WORLD MEN'S TEAM SQUASH CHAMPIONSHIPS - SPORTS AND AQUATICS CENTRE, MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA - FIRST DAY, MONDAY, OCTOBER 22

The unseeded Netherlands beat fifth-ranked Scotland to claim the only shock win on the opening day of the world team championships.

While top seeds Australia, second favourites Wales and defending champions Egypt, who beat the USA 3-0, were hardly pressed, poor old Scotland slumped to a 2-1 defeat.

But it was a real thriller, with the outcome eventually hinging on the final third rubber between Neil Frankland, who spends more time coaching than playing, and Lucas Buit, who recently retired from the world circuit.

Frankland, in fact, came within a whisker of one of the greatest fightbacks ever. He lost the first two games and was 0-5 behind in the third but came back to hold three match balls before eventually succumbing by 10-8 in the fifth.

It was a four game defeat for John White, the Australian-born Scottish Champion, in the top tie against Tommy Berden that set the Scots on the back foot. Set to rise to no four in the next world rankings, White went down 9-7, 2-9, 9-7, 10-8 to the world no 26.

Martin Heath then levelled the scores by dropping just five points to Gabor Marques to send Frankland into the all-important decider against Buit.

It looked all over for the former Scottish champion when he lost the first two close games and then fell 0-5 behind in the third, the fifth point having been awarded as a penalty conduct stroke when Frankland was over-zealous in his complaint over a refereeing decision.

But he then staged the most remarkable of come-backs to take the third game 10-8, the fourth 9-5 and he then held two match balls at 8-5 in the fourth and another at 8- before cruelly losing out to a Buit fightback. The Dutchman, who recently retired from the world circuit, clinched the point 10-8, 9-7, 8-10, 5-9, 0-8 in 95 minutes.

"I thought I had the match, and I'm gutted to lose," said Frankland who, as one of the few non full-time players in the championship could still be pleased with his effort.

Australia strolled to one of the easiest wins of the round with David Palmer, Stewart Boswell and John Williams dropping a combined total of just six points to Hong Kong.

Results:

Pool A:
Australia bt Hong Kong 3-0 (D Palmer bt F Khan 9-0, 9-0, 9-2; S Boswell bt V Cheung 9-0, 9-0, 9-0; J Williams bt J Lee 9-3, 9-0, 9-1);
Ireland bt Norway 3-0 (D Ryan bt R Larsson 9-4, 9-2, 9-1; L Kenny bt R Pettersen 9-0, 9-3, 9-0; S Richardson bt J Salem 9-3, 9-2, 9-3)

Pool B:
Wales bt Mexico 3-0 (D Evans bt M Aguilar 9-0, 9-5, 9-0; A Gough bt A Zarazua 9-2, 9-3, 9-5; G Tippings bt O Montero 9-1, 9-1, 9-3);
South Africa bt Germany 3-0 (R Durbach bt S Frenz 9-10, 9-1, 10-8, 9-6; G Whittacker bt S Leifels 9-1, 9-5, 9-0; A Hansen bt F Poessi 3-9, 9-5, 9-2, 9-4)

Pool C:
England bt Sweden 3-0 (M Chaloner bt D Forslund 9-1, 9-4, 9-5; P Johnson bt C Drakenberg 9-6, 9-1, 4-9, 3-9, 9-0; L Beachill bt B Aziz 9-1, 9-3, 9-1);
Pakistan bt Kenya 3-0 (M Zaman bt O Kwach 9-0, 9-0, 9-1; S Zaman bt H Bains 9-0, 9-3, 9-6; A Azmat bt R Bains 9-1, 9-2, 9-1)

Pool D:
Canada bt Japan 3-0 (J Power bt K Sano 9-0, 9-0, 9-2; S Razik bt T Hota 9-2, 9-0, 9-2; K Patrick bt Y Watanabe 9-0, 10-9, 9-0);
Finland bt Denmark 3-0 (O Tuominen bt M Korsberg 10-9, 7-9, 9-4, 9-6; M Monto bt M Hansen 9-4, 9-5, 9-4; J Raumolin bt M Korsberg 7-9, 9-5, 9-1, 9-1)

Pool E:
Netherlands 2 Scotland 1 (T Berden bt J White 9-7, 2-9, 9-7, 10-8; G Marques lost to M Heath 2-9, 0-9, 3-9; L Buit bt N Frankland 10-8, 9-7, 8-10, 5-9, 10-8)
Malaysia 3 Austria 0 (B H Ong bt G Schedlbauer 9-7, 9-1, 9-1; K Low bt M Rossler 9-1, 9-2, 9-3; M Azlan bt A Fuchs 9-3, 9-1, 9-1);

Pool F:
Egypt bt USA 3-0 (O Elborolossy bt D Walker 9-4, 9-2, 9-0; A Shabana bt R chin 9-6, 9-0, 9-0; M Abbas bt T Wyant 9-0, 9-0, 9-1);
France bt New Zealand 3-0 (T Lincou bt P Steel 9-1, 9-1, 9-4; R Lavigne bt D Sharplin 9-5, 9-0, 9-4; J-M Arcucci bt G Crosby 7-9, 5-9, 9-2, 10-8, 9-3)

US SUFFER AT HANDS OF HOLDERS
The USA put up little resistance against holders Egypt in a daunting first round tie in Pool F at the world team championships. Damian Walker, Richard Chin and Tim Wyant all went down in straight games and will be hoping for better in the next round against France.

Egypt, the no six seeds, fielded three players in the world's top 36, while none of the Americans are in the top 40.

The scorelines were as one-sided as the statistics. Omar Elborolossy beat Walker 9-4, 9-2, 9-0 in the top match, Amr Shabana eased past Chin 9-6, 9-0, 9-0 in the second string and Mohamed Abbas completed victory with a 9-0, 9-0, 9-1 win over Wyant