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Australia Wins Men's World Teams
by Elspeth Burnside Oct 28, 2001 © 2001 Elspeth Burnside and Squashtalk
[last update was 28-oct-01 ]

England takes third over Scotland.
 [Men's Knockout Draw] [Men's Teams]

Australia Gets Big Win as Palmer Pushes Off Darwish

FINAL - SUNDAY, OCTOBER 28

Australia won the world squash championship for a record seventh time today with a 3-0 victory over defending champions, Egypt, at the Sports and Aquatics Centre in Melbourne, Australia. World no one David Palmer had the honour of clinching the winning point in the top string rubber against Karim Darwish, although it wasn’t by any means of straightforward.

He dropped the opening game, and then had to overcome the loss of two conduct warning points for barging into his opponent in the fourth game. Paul Price had given the top-seeded home side a winning lead with a 9-2, 10-9, 9-3 win over Omar El Borolossy in the second string rubber, before Palmer, the British Open Champion, clinched the win with an 8-10, 9-1, 9-0, 10-8 triumph over Darwish, the 1999 world junior champion.

It was at 6-2 ahead in the fourth game that Palmer was deducted the two points by Irish referee Jack Allen for "unnecessary physical conduct," and Darwish battled back to level the scores at 8-all. But Palmer, the British Open Champion, managed to hold on to win the 62 minute encounter on his second match ball and immediately sparked scenes of wild Australian celebrations.

"It's a dream come true to win the championship for Australia at my first attempt, especially here in Melbourne," said Palmer. "And I now think that we have a squad of players that could dominate the game for years to come. "It's been a real team effort all week, and it just fells great to have pulled it off."

PRICE PUTS IN POWERFUL PERFORMANCE
Price, who won the WSF World Challenge on the same court the previous week, added: "This has been one of the big goals all year. Melbourne is my home city, and to win two titles in a week is just great - but this is the big one." Stewart Boswell, who won the dead rubber 9-0, 9-0 against Mohammed Abbas, and John Williams were the other members of the winning team.

ENGLAND WINS WHILE SCOTLAND MISSES HEATH
Strangely, the bronze medal play-off between England and Scotland was also a fiery affair that had the referee deducting conduct strokes before the even-tempered English managed to retain the bronze medal 3-0. Scotland had been hindered by the loss of second string Martin Heath with a foot injury, and subsequently always faced a monumental struggle against the English.

Chris Walker took the opening game against Neil Frankland, but John White looked set to level the match when he won the first two games in the top string against Mark Chaloner before he began to lose the plot. The Australian-born Scottish Champion held three match balls at 8-7 in the third game but then lost his temper and the match. At 0-4 down in the fifth game he slammed the ball out of court and was awarded a conduct stroke against him for ball abuse. Cursing the referee's decision he was then docked another point to fall 0-6 down. On match ball at 2-8, he then broke his racket by smashing it against the wall, and was perhaps fortunate not to suffer further at the hands of the New Zealand official, Chas Evans. In the end, White lost 3-9, 2-9, 10-8, 9-7, 9-2.

"It's not the behaviour I like to see," said team manager, Chris Wilson. "I know he was frustrated, but it's disappointing." As for Heath, he said: "It's a real shame about the injury because it would have been great of Scotland could have got a medal. The foot's been sore all week, but I think I kept going on adrenaline. But there's no way I could have gone on today."

US END ON WINNING NOTE
The USA clinched 19th place - two lower than in Egypt two years ago - with a final day 2-1 win over Austria. Preston Quick and Richard Chin claimed the points that ended a relatively disappointing campaign on a brighter note. "The loss to Hong Kong in the second play-off was crucial, and disappointing," said team coach, Richard Millman. "But at least we signed off with a win. "But the championships have been another learning process for the team and , hopefully, we can improve in two years' time."

Results: Final:
Australia bt Egypt (P Price bt O El Borolossy 9-2, 10-9, 9-3; D Palmer bt K Darwish 8-10, 9-1, 9-0, 10-8; S Boswell bt M Abbas 9-0, 9-0)

Play-offs:
Third place: England bt Scotland 3-0 (C Walker bt N Frankland 9-3, 5-9, 9-2, 9-6; M Chaloner bt J White 3-9, 2-9, 10-8, 9-7, 9-2; L Beechill bt P O'Hara 9-0, 9-1)

Fifth place: France bt South Africa 2-1 (R Lavigne bt M Toothill 9-5, 9-1, 9-1; T Lincou bt R Durbach 9-6, 0-9, 9-3, 9-1; J-M Arucci lost A Hansen 9-1, 4-9, 2-9)

Seventh place: Malaysia bt Canada 2-1 (K Low bt S Razik 9-7, 4-9, 9-1, 9-3; O Beng Hee bt G Ryding 10-9, 9-8, 9-5; M Azlan lost to K Patrick 4-9, 9-5, 2-9)

Ninth place: Wales bt Ireland 2-1 (A Gough bt L Kenny 9-4, 7-9, 7-9, 9-4, 9-2; D Evans bt D Ryan 9-1, 9-3, 9-2; G Jones lost to S Richardson 9-7, 1-9, 6-9)

11h place: Pakistan bt Finland 2-1 (S Zaman bt J Raumolin 9-3, 9-5, 9-5; M Zaman lost to O Tuominen 6-9, 3-9, 2-9; S Islam bt J Kyttanen 9-4, 7-9, 8-10, 9-2, 9-1)

13th place: Sweden bt Netherlands 2-1 (C Drakenberg bt G marges 9-0, 9-1, 9-1; D Forslund lost to T Berden 6-9, 8-9, 7-9; J Jungling bt M Reus 6-9, 9-3, 9-7, 10-8)

15th place: Germany bt Denmark 2-1 (S Leifels bt M Hansen 6-9, 9-0, 9-4, 9-1; S Frenz bt M Korsjberg 9-2, 9-5, 9-0; E Schneider lost to M Korsjberg -9, 7-9)

17th place: New Zealand bt Hong Kong 2-1 (D Sharplin bt V Cheung 9-2, 9-7, 9-6; P Steel lost to F Kham 7-9, 8-10, 9-10; G Crosby bt J Lee 9-6, 9-7, 9-3)

19th place: USA bt Austria 2-1 (P Quick bt M Rossler 9-6, 9-7, 9-2; R Chin bt G Schedlbauer 9-3, 9-3, 3-9, 9-7; T Wyant lost to A Fuchs 9-6, 4-9, 4-9)

21st place: Mexico bt Norway 3-0 (M Aguilar bt R Pettersen 5-9, 9-3, 9-4, 9-3; E Galvez bt R Larsson 9-4, 9-7, 9-5; A Zarazua bt T Hansen 9-7, 9-0) 23rd place: Japan bt Kenya 3-0 (Y Watanabe bt H bains 9-7, 10-8, 9-4; K Sano bt O Kwach 9-2, 9-10, 9-1, 9-4; R Tano bt R bains 9-7, 9-6)