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Australia Tops France in Bruiser
Final Report from Vienna, Austria
October 26, 2003
By Howard Harding All content © 2003 Squashtalk

Australia Retain Men's World Team Title

The World Team Finals in Vienna, photo Fritz Borchert for Squashtalk © 2003

Top seeds Australia successfully defended their Men's World Team Squash Championship title with a 3-0 victory over first-time finalists France in the final in Vienna, Austria. After winning the trophy in the inaugural event on home soil in 1967, Australia have now extended their haul to a record eight titles.

France, the third seeds who achieved a historic first ever win over second seeds England to reach the final, made the favourites work hard for their glory. World champion David Palmer, who earlier in the month added the British Open trophy to his PSA Tour title tally, took a 9-0 7-0 lead in the opening match against his top string counterpart Thierry Lincou before the Frenchman responded.

The packed auditorium surrounding the all-glass court in the Wellness Park centre in the Viennese suburb of Oberlaa were treated to a glittering display of world-class squash as Lincou, ranked just a single place below his opponent at four in the world, fought back to take the third game.

Palmer reasserted his authority over the tiring Frenchman, however, to put Australia ahead with a 9-0 9-3 6-9 9-5 victory in 77 minutes.

Ricketts and Gaultier in Vienna, photo Fritz Borchert for Squashtalk © 2003

In an acrimonious battle between the second strings which followed, world No6 Anthony Ricketts, making his world championship debut for Australia, needed 74 minutes to overcome Gregory Gaultier, France's hero 24 hours earlier, 9-4 7-9 9-2 8-10 9-0 to clinch the title for the jubilant Aussies.

Paul Price made it 3/0 for the team with a 9-3 9-3 win over France's third string Renan Lavigne in the best-of-three dead rubber.

Team coach Byron Davis had nothing but praise for his Australian squad: "The truth is, this squad only gets together like this every two years - for the World Championships, and this is the pinnacle of world squash. They're a quality side, professional in every way. And to their credit, they played fantastic squash - they produced today when it really mattered. This was their hardest match - against a side which showed great strength of character after beating second seeds England for the first time last night."

England made up for the disappointment of their loss to France with a comprehensive 3/0 victory over fourth seeds Egypt to claim the bronze medal. With world No1 Peter Nicol rested, world No10 Lee Beachill led the team and pulled off a morale-boosting 9-4 9-3 9-3 win against world No8 Karim Darwish, his career-first win over the Egyptian.

World junior champion James Willstrop pulled back from a game down to beat Mohamed Abbas, ranked 12 places higher in the world, 7-9 9-2 9-7 9-1 in 68 minutes - before Nick Matthew made it a maximum points victory following a 9-7 9-2 defeat of third string Wael El Hindi.

In the play-offs for the lower positions, ninth seeds and six-times former champions Pakistan beat South Africa 2/1 to take 9th place, their highest finish since 1997, while eighth seeds Malaysia slumped to a 14th place finish - their lowest since 1995 - after losing 2/1 to Switzerland, who celebrated their best-ever 13th place finish. Hong Kong celebrated their first single-figure final position in ten appearances in the event, taking eighth place after losing 3/0 to Scotland in the 7th place play-off. In a 2/1 win over Ireland, Netherlands recorded an 11th place finish - their best since 1993 - while 13th seeds Finland crashed a 25th place finish, their worst showing since making their debut in 1981.

RESULTS: Men's World Team Squash Championship, Vienna, Austria

Final:
[1]AUSTRALIA 3 [3]FRANCE 0 (David Palmer bt Thierry Lincou 9-0, 9-3, 6-9, 9-5 (77m); Anthony Ricketts bt Gregory Gaultier 9-4, 7-9, 9-2, 8-10, 9-0 (74m); Paul Price bt Renan Lavigne 9-3, 9-3 (20m))
3rd place play-off:
[2]ENGLAND 3 [4]EGYPT 0 (Lee Beachill bt Karim Darwish 9-4, 9-3, 9-3 (33m); James Willstrop bt Mohamed Abbas 7-9, 9-2, 9-7, 9-1 (68m); Nick Matthew bt Wael El Hindi 9-7, 9-2 (22m))
5th place play-off:
[7]WALES 2 [5]CANADA 1 (Alex Gough lost to Graham Ryding 9-1, 2-9, 9-5, 1-9, 0-9; David Evans bt Shahier Razik 9-1, 9-4, 9-0; Gavin Jones bt Viktor Berg 9-5, 9-4, 9-1)
7th place play-off:
[6]SCOTLAND 3 [17/24]HONG KONG 0 (John White bt Wong Wai Hang 9-3, 9-2, 9-3; Martin Heath bt Dick Lau 9-2, 9-0, 9-1; Peter O'Hara bt Roger Ngan 9-6, 9-2)
9th place play-off:
[9]PAKISTAN 2 [11]SOUTH AFRICA 1 (Mansoor Zaman lost to Rodney Durbach 8-10, 4-9, 6-9; Farrukh Zaman bt Craig van der Wath 9-3, 10-8, 9-10, 10-9; Majid Khan bt Gregory La Mude 9-7, 10-8, 9-1)
11th place play-off:
[12]NETHERLANDS 2 [10]IRELAND 1 (Tommy Berden bt Derek Ryan 9-1, 9-2, 9-4; Michael Fiteni lost to John Rooney 0-9, 9-4, 7-9, 9-10; Dylan Bennett bt Graeme Stewart 6-9, 9-5, 9-6, 7-9, 9-6)
13th place play-off:
[15]SWITZERLAND 2 [8]MALAYSIA 1 (Lars Harms bt Ong Beng Hee 9-3, 9-3, 9-5; Andre Holderegger lost to Moh'd Azlan Iskandar 1-9, 3-9, 0-9; Marco Dätwyler bt Timothy Arnold 9-2, 10-8, 4-9, 9-6)
15th place play-off:
[16]GERMANY 2 [14]SWEDEN 1 (Simon Frenz lost to Christian Drakenberg 5-9, 0-9, 1-9; Stefan Leifels bt Henrik Löfvenborg 9-0, 6-9, 9-4, 9-5; Oliver Post bt Joakim Karlsson 9-0, 9-0, 9-0)
17th place play-off:
[17/24]NEW ZEALAND 3 [17/24]ITALY 0 (Glen Wilson bt Andrea Capella 10-9, 0-9, 9-1, 9-0; Daniel Sharplin bt Francesco Busi 9-0, 9-2, 9-4; Callum O'Brien bt Andrea Torricini 9-7, 9-0)
19th place play-off:
KUWAIT 3 [17/24]USA 0 (Bader Alhosaini bt Preston Quick 9-3, 9-6, 9-5; Ali Alramezi bt Damian Walker 10-8, 10-8, 9-1; Nasser Alramezi bt Tim Wyant 9-7, 9-5)
21st place play-off:
[17/24]AUSTRIA 3 HUNGARY 0 (Leopold Czaska bt Andras Torok 9-7, 10-8, 9-3; Clemens Wallishauser bt Mark Krajcsak 9-2, 9-6, 9-3; David Huck bt Sandor Fulop bt 9-6, 9-2)
23rd place play-off:
[17/24]CZECH REPUBLIC 2 [17/24]JAPAN 1 (Jan Koukal bt Kimihiko Sano 9-0, 9-3, 9-3; Martin Stepan bt Takehide Nishio 9-6, 5-9, 9-7, 4-9, 9-7; Pavel Sladecek lost to Jun Matsumoto 0-9, 7-9)
25th place play-off:
[13]FINLAND 2 SLOVENIA 1 (Olli Tuominen bt Damir Bezan 9-0, 9-1, 9-2; Hameed Ahmed lost to Klemen Gutman 7-9, 9-5, 2-9, 5-9; Matias Tuomi bt Miha Kavas 9-7, 9-3, 7-9, 10-8)
27th place play-off:
KOREA 2 BERMUDA 1 (Yong-Chun Chong lost to Nicholas Kyme 2-9, 3-9, 5-9; Dong-Woo Kim bt James Stout 10-9, 9-6, 3-9, 4-9, 10-8; Jaung-Gue Park bt Sam Stevens 9-0, 9-0, 9-3)
29th place play-off:
[17/24]MEXICO 3 RUSSIA 0 (Eric Galvez bt Alexei Severinov 9-3, 9-5, 9-0; Armando Zarazua bt Serguei Kostrykine 9-1, 9-4; Mauricio Sanchez bt Maxim Shokin 9-1, 9-1, 9-2)