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Rest for Nicol, Practice for Palmer
Pools Wrapup by Martin Bronstein, Oct 21 2003

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

SURPRISE……NO SURPRISES.
So the world unfolds as it should in Vienna and the top fifteen seeds are
joined by Hong Kong, who supplied just a minor surprise by beating Finland
into the final 16.

In the three qualifying rounds, the big fishes swallowed the little fish with hardly a burp, with few matches going beyond three games and Australian Joe Kneipp claiming the first 27-0 result in his first match while fellow Australian Paul Price pulled off the same score in Australia's third match.

Malaysia withstood the challenge of Pakistan in Pool H to take top spot and will now face the brash young Hong Kong team, old enemies of Malaysia from the Asian Games. I can't see Hong Kong advancing at Malaysia's expense, the duo of Ong Beng Hee and Mo Azlan Iskander being too experienced for the HK top pair.

Australia strolled through Pool A with a perfect record: 27 games won against no losses. While England rested their number one Peter Nicol, Australia, had their number one David Palmer leading the team for the first two matches, not so much to ensure the victory, I feel, but more to give Palmer much needed match play, which he is hungry for after his layoff due to stomach surgery. Certainly he won the British Open against a very weak Peter Nicol, but Palmer knows that he is not quite back to where he was. Australia should keep their perfect record in the knockout section first round match against Netherlands, although Dylan Bennet at number three is capable of wonderful squash and could well take a game from Kneipp or
Price. One game, but no more.

Pool B winners England will also be confident of a 3/0 victory over Pakistan simply because they have too much experience against the still-emerging Pakistani youngsters. While Nicol was only brought in for the last match against Holland, James Willstrop was used in all three matches and emerged unscathed. Indeed, Willstrop could go in at number one against Pakistan and maintain his unblemished record. It will be interesting to see if the England coach uses Willstrop in all the matches.

Egypt won their pool comfortably and have talent to spare in Darwish, Shabana, Abbas and El Hindy. But their next opponents South Africa have real experience in Rodney Durbacha and Craig Van der Wath and if the Egyptians don’t take them seriously South Africa could do damage.

Canada, seeded five, were the first to qualify, having to play just two games because Pool E had only three teams. Jonathon Power lost a game to Tommy Berden of the Netherlands, but there was never any doubt that they would go through. Sweden will be tougher but not that tough and even if Power doesn't play, Graham Ryding, Shahier Razik and Victor Berg will triumph.

Wales also have two very experienced players in Alex Gough and David Evans and with Chris Robertson, the Welsh National coach guiding them, will bring out the best in a sometimes fragile Evans. Germany has never produced the quality team they had in the s 70's and 80's and Wales can expect a smooth journey into the quarters.

The USA beat Korea in the third pool match but as expected had to settle for third place in Pool F behind Scotland and South Africa. They meet Russia in the next stage and should have no trouble beating them. New Zealand and Austria will offer some top opposition for the 17th place finish with the Kiwis having just a little bit too much firepower. I fear that the USA will have to be happy with 18th position when the smoke is cleared. But wait until 2007….

Scotland , seeded sixth, meet Switzerland which boasts a team of very talented players, but again, the world number two, John White, and Martin Heath will be far too experienced for them.

So the 'No Surprises' stage of the championships continue, and we shall
have to wait for the quarter-finals for the flags to be unfurled and
rampant nationalism used to feed the fire of competition.

Draw for the top 16:

Australia v Netherlands
Malaysia v Hong Kong
Egypt v South Africa
Wales v Germany
Switzerland v Scotland
Ireland v France
Canada v Sweden
England v Pakistan