SquashTalk>Women's World Open >Womens World Teams Pools wrapup: Colin McQuillan

[last update was 21-nov-00 ]

Luck be a Lady....

11.21.00 by Colin McQuillan

Eye Group Women's World Open Squash Championship, Sheffield, UK

[View team pool results]  [Sarah Fitz-Gerald's notes]

Luck Be A Lady !
Lady Luck smiled on the Irish at the Eye Group Women's World Team Squash Championship at the Hallamshire Club in Sheffield, England, but she had little time for the hard pressed USA team.

The Irish, having finished bottom in Qualifying Pool E with no match wins and only three separate games to their credit, were confidently expecting to be consigned to the pool play-offs for 17th place. Then they discovered that Spain languishing at the bottom of Pool C, also with no wins and just three separate games on the board.

An official countback by the technical director, Andrew Shelley, showed that on points difference Ireland scored minus 89 compared to minus 111 for Spain…The Irish went into the draw for the last 16, although only as far as the second seeded defending champions, Australia, while the Spanish went down to join Wales, Japan, Italy and USA in the wooden spoon race.

The Americans thought they might have done enough to squeak into the top flight by beating Japan 3-0 in the last Pool F qualifying match after losing everything else comprehensively. Margaret Elias recorded the quickest win of the tournament so far beating Yuka Goto in just 13 minutes, with Louisa Hall not far behind beating Naoko Nishio in 15 minutes. But Japan had lost everything else by the same hapless margins so the win meant nothing in the greater scheme of things…down to the cellar for both of them.

Canada made it to the last 16 from second place in Pool D, but coach Ian Paton's hopes of a top five place with Pan American Champion Melanie Jans and World Universities Champion Marnie Baizley in his squad look a bit dim with The Netherlands drawn against them in the first round and the top seeded English looming for the second round. England, with their first string, Linda Charman, resting in celebration of her 29th birthday, knocked off Brazil for 15 points in a collective playing time of 67 minutes in the last qualifying round to finish top of Pool A. They face Malaysia, third placed in Pool B, in the first round.

Under the new WSF system for drawing the last 16 rather than placing them from pool positions, the third seeded New Zealanders got the short shaft. Having easilt topped Pool C, they were drawn against Hong Kong, placed second in Pool A, which was not so bad…but it was in England's half of the draw with South Africa playing Brazil in the adjacent slot. Under the old system the third seeds would have been placed in the bottom half of the draw which, this year, would have given them a chance at a semi-final against the weakened defending champions, Australia.

Egypt, the fourth seeds, got the bottom slot, playing Denmark with Germany and Switzerland adjacent. The young Egyptians were delighted. They clearly have little fear of the Danes. They wiped out Switzerland in the qualifiers. And they watched Germany scrape past The Netherlands after Sabine Schone lost to the vastly improved Vanessa Atkinson and Ina Meina recovered from two games down against Daphne Jelgersma in the decider.

South Africa defeated Scotland 2-1 in the last Pool F match, but they may now wish they hadn't. The results gave them victory in the pool, but it also put them into England's half of the draw while Scotland were drawn to play France with the Australian team, missing world champion Carol Owens, former world junior champion Rachael Grinham and veteran Liz Irving, next up. Now it is becoming really interesting.

For the latest results go to www.squashtalk.com/womensworld

Louisa Hall won in 15 minutes for the USA but they were still relegated to the 17-21 bracket (Squashtalk file photo © 2000, Vaughn Winchell for Squashtalk)