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Hong Kong Gets Big Upset on Day One
Pools Report #1, from Vienna, Austria

[last update was 22-oct-03 ] By Howard Harding All content © 2003 Squashtalk

Hong Kong tops Finland on Day One in Vienna

While the top countries cruised through the opening day's qualifying action in the Men's World Team Squash Championship in the Austrian capital of Vienna without incident, Hong Kong pulled off a notable upset over 13th seeds Finland.

Seeded in the 17-24 group, Hong Kong's Wong Wai Hang gave his country a lift with a 9-0 9-5 9-3 victory over Finland's former touring pro Juha Raumolin. Olli Tuominen, a surprise British Open quarter-finalist earlier in the month, levelled the tie for Finland with a 9-1 9-0 9-3 win over long-time Hong Kong stalwart Faheem Khan - but Dick Lau clinched the 2-1 victory for the outsiders after twice coming from behind to beat Finland's Matias Tuomi 0-9 9-1 6-9 9-7 9-2.

Hong Kong now face fourth seeds Egypt, winners of the title in 1999, who cruised to a 3-0 win over event newcomers Bermuda in the other match in Pool D.

Favourites and defending champions Australia, who have arrived in Austria without world No9 Stewart Boswell who is still suffering with a back injury, secured a straightforward 3-0 win over Japan, dropping just four points in the process. No2 seeds England, champions in 1995 and 1997, rested world No1 Peter Nicol in their opening clash with unseeded Hungary. World junior champion James Willstrop, making his senior world championship debut, put England ahead with a 9-5 9-7 9-0 win over Hungary's Mark Krajcsak, then twice British national champion Lee Beachill ensured victory for the former champions by beating Andras Torok 9-1 9-0 9-1. Fourth string Nick Matthew, also making his debut in the event, wrapped up the maximum points success with a 9-1 9-1 9-5 win over Sandor Fulop.

The closest tie of the day saw Malaysia endorse their eighth seeding over ninth seeds Pakistan with a 2-1 win over their Asian rivals. Mohammed Azlan Iskandar put Malaysia into the lead with a 9-5 9-3 9-10 9-0 win over Farrukh Zaman before world No7 Ong Beng Hee clinched victory for the eighth seeds after climbing back from 2-0 down and match-ball in the fourth to beat Pakistan's world No15 Mansoor Zaman 4-9 2-9 9-3 10-9 9-5. Teenager Majid Khan, in his first world championship, restored the six-times champions' reputation in the event with a 9-1 9-2 9-1 victory over Malaysia's third string Kelvin Ho to give Pakistan a valuable final point.

RESULTS: Men's World Team Squash Championship Vienna Austria

1st qualifying round - Pool A:
[1]AUSTRALIA 3 [17/24]JAPAN 0 (David Palmer bt Kimihiko Sano 9-1, 9-1, 9-1; Joseph Kneipp bt Takeshi Aoyama 9-0, 9-0, 9-0; Paul Price bt Jun Matsumoto 9-0, 9-1, 9-0)
[16]GERMANY 3 RUSSIA 0 (Stefan Leifels bt Alexei Severinov 9-0, 9-2, 9-4; Daniel Hoffmann bt Maxim Shokin 9-0, 9-0, 9-3; Oliver Post bt Andrei Bratter 9-0, 9-0, 9-0)
Pool B:
[2]ENGLAND 3 HUNGARY 0 (Lee Beachill bt Andras Torok 9-1, 9-0, 9-1; James Willstrop bt Mark Krajcsak 9-5, 9-7, 9-0; Nick Matthew bt Sandor Fulop 9-1, 9-1, 9-5)
[15]SWITZERLAND 2 [17/24]NEW ZEALAND 1 (Lars Harms bt Glen Wilson 9-3, 9-10, 0-9, 9-7, 9-0; Andre Holderegger lost to Daniel Sharplin 3-9, 5-9, 1-9; Marco Daetwyler bt Callum O'Brien 9-4, 9-3, 9-0)
Pool C:
[3]FRANCE 3 [17/24]AUSTRIA 0 (Thierry Lincou bt Leopold Czaska 9-5, 9-1, 9-0; Renan Lavigne bt Clemens Wallishauser 9-2, 9-3, 10-8; Jean-Michel Arcucci bt Gerhard Schedlbauer 6-9, 6-9, 9-4, 9-0, 9-5)
[14]SWEDEN 3 SLOVENIA 0 (Christian Drakenberg bt Gasper Fecur 9-6, 9-0, 9-0; Henrik Lofvenborg bt Damir Bezan 9-2, 9-0, 10-8; Joakim Karlsson bt Klemen Gutman 9-7, 9-3, 9-1)
Pool D:
[4]EGYPT 3 BERMUDA 0 (Amr Shabana bt Nicholas Kyme 9-0, 9-1, 9-1; Mohamed Abbas bt James Stout 9-0, 9-0, 9-1; Wael El Hindi bt Sam Stevens 9-0, 9-0, 9-0)
[17/24]HONG KONG 2 [13]FINLAND 1 (Faheem Khan lost to Olli Tuominen 1-9, 0-9, 3-9; Wong Wai Hang bt Juha Raumolin 9-0, 9-5, 9-3; Dick Lau bt Matias Tuomi 0-9, 9-1, 6-9, 9-7, 9-2)
Pool E:
[5]CANADA 3 [17/24]CZECH REPUBLIC 0 (Graham Ryding bt Jan Koukal 1-9, 9-4, 9-1, 9-2; Shahier Razik bt Milos Pokorny 9-2, 9-2, 9-4; Viktor Berg bt Martin Stepan 9-5, 9-0, 9-4)
Pool F:
[6]SCOTLAND 3 KOREA 0 (John White bt Yong-Chun Chong 9-0, 9-2, 9-1; Martin Heath bt Dong-Woo Kim 9-0, 9-0, 9-2; Neil Frankland bt Seung Jun Lee 9-1, 9-0, 9-3)
[11]SOUTH AFRICA 3 [17/24]USA 0 (Rodney Durbach bt Preston Quick 9-4, 9-4, 9-3; Adrian Hansen bt Damian Walker 9-10, 9-2, 9-3, 9-5; Gregory La Mude bt Jamie Crombie 9-5, 9-3, 9-1)
Pool G:
[7]WALES 3 [17/24]MEXICO 0 (Alex Gough bt Eric Galvez 9-2, 9-4, 9-0; David Evans bt Jorge Baltazar 9-2, 9-3, 9-1; Gavin Jones bt Armando Zarazua 9-2, 9-0, 9-3)
[10]IRELAND 3 KUWAIT 0 (Derek Ryan bt Bader Alhosaini 2-9, 9-6, 9-5, 4-9, 9-6; John Rooney bt Ali Alramezi 9-1, 9-3, 9-2; Graeme Stewart bt Nasser Alramezi 9-1, 9-3, 9-3)
Pool H:
[8]MALAYSIA 2 [9]PAKISTAN 1 (Ong Beng Hee bt Mansoor Zaman 4-9, 2-9, 9-3, 10-9, 9-5; Moh'd Azlan Iskandar bt Farrukh Zaman 9-5, 9-3, 9-10, 9-0; Kelvin Ho lost to Majid Khan 1-9, 2-9, 1-9)