CHENNAI – Reigning champion Great Britain will play top seed Egypt in the final of the mixed team event on Sunday 7 September in the 8th World University Squash Championship at the ISA courts in Chennai, India.
In two semi-finals of near similarity on Saturday, Egypt defeated Malaysia 2-0 and Great Britain accounted for South Africa by the same margin. Both the ties ended without the third singles being played.
The showman that Mazen Sabri is, the Egyptian talent certainly showed that he is more than that. The deft touches he exhibited lightened up the mood of the small gathering. Not that Sanjay Singh for Malaysia gave in easily but even his admirable athleticism could not stop certain shots that saw the ball eluding him. Such was Sanjay’s work that by the time the contest ended he had begun to hobble around showing clear signs of wear out. If Mazen was class then Farah Abdel Meguid provided anxious moments to the Egypt camp with her regular slips. Zulhijjah Azan is no push-over player but one who shows lots of sense in her play. Her tactics of switching the ball from one side to the other and topping it with good drops meant Fara had a struggle right through. “I have been having a touch of fever and cold,” said the winner in the aftermath of her long tussle. In the end it did not matter that Farah just managed to keep her slate clean, for Egypt the victory meant a place in the title round.
Edward David Charlton likes to prolong rallies. The Briton has more than once here showed an appetite to remain on court for long. So it was against South Africa’s Ruan Oliver in the first singles. To start with Edward’s ploy seemed to work for Oliver kept lapsing into mistakes. But just as everyone thought Edward would sail through came Oliver’s resistance and what is more his pluck to grab a game. As it happened, Oliver could not sustain that pressure and a promising rivalry ended too soon. In the second singles, the individual champion Camilla Tomlinson started well against Cheyna Tucker but suffered a mid-contest lapse. But the fighter she is, Camilla was soon to regain touch to turn things around and help Great Britain ease past South Africa.
RESULTS DAY 6
EGYPT [1] bt MALAYSIA [3/4] 2-0
MS1: Mazen Sabri bt Sanjay Singh Chal 10-12 11-3 11-5 11-6 ;
WS: Farah Abdel Meguid bt Zulhijjah Azan 11-6 6-11 11-13 11-6 11-5;
MS2: Zahed Salem – Addeen Bahtiar (not played);
SOUTH AFRICA [3/4] lost to GREAT BRITAIN [2] 0-2
MS1: Ruan Oliver lost to Edward David Charlton 7-11 7-11 11-7 6-11;
WS: Cheyna Tucker lost to Camilla Sarah Tomlinson 9-11 7-11 11-6 1-11;
MS2: Nell Van De Merwe – Joel Patrick Makin (not played)
(Source: S.R. Suryanarayan, WUC Squash Media)