Egypt top seed for teams competition

Jul 3, 2006

Team seedings for the 2006 Prince World Junior Men’s Squash Championships have been announced by the World Squash Federation today.

 Egypt have taken out No1 spot as they did in the individual seedings, followed by Pakistan,England and India at second, third and forth seeds respectively.

Egypt will be led by the current World Junior Champion Ramy Ashour, backed up by a strong squad who will be difficult to beat.

Hosts New Zealand have a young side this time, led by Wellington’s Evan Williams. Evan will be supported by Chris Lloyd (Waikato), Josh Thom and Lui Syder (both Auckland). They have depth but will need to perform at their peak to finish higher than the 12th seed position they have been given.

Dave Clarke, New Zealand national coach, believes that while the seeding are a fair reflection it’s still possible for an upset to throw all that out the window. “The interim seedings’ for the team’s event have thrown up some mouth-watering prospects with the two world junior heavyweights, Egypt and Pakistan being installed as No 1 and 2 seeds, respectively. Pakistan may be the partypoopers with Amir Atlas Khan leading their charge, and with strong support in the wings from the likes of 2004 finalist Yasir Butt. If they both make the final look out for a see-saw match with a 2-1 outcome likely either way.

“Other teams who may have something to say about that are England, India and Germany, all of who could spring an upset. England have a proud history around the event having won on a number of occasions but will need to play above themselves to surprise the top seeds. Germany could be the team to watch out for with Simon Rosner at No 1 backed up by a solid young squad. India will have a side that will be full of running but it may not be enough to take home a medal.”

“Australia, Hong Kong and Switzerland are relatively unknown quantities, as will be South Africa, Kuwait and Finland. These countries have all turned out some great sides in the past so we can safely assume that they will all be very competitive when the team’s event gets underway.”

“Ireland, Japan and Zimbabwe make up the remaining teams for the championship. I’m sure that they will give those mid-table teams a fright along the way but will not be strong enough to challenge the top teams.”

“The team’s event has thrown up some titanic struggles in the past and I expect the 2006 event at the new complex in Palmerston North to be no different. Prepare to be entertained and enthralled.”

For more information on seedings visit: http://www.2006worldjuniors.co.nz/

MEN’S WORLD JUNIOR TEAM CHAMPIONSHIP 2006
PALMERSON NORTH, NEW ZEALAND 23 – 28 JULY 2006

INTERIM TEAM SEEDING

  1.  EGYPT
  2.  PAKISTAN
  3.  ENGLAND
  4.  INDIA
  5.  GERMANY
  6.  CANADA
  7.  MALAYSIA
  8.  NETHERLANDS
  9. AUSTRALIA
  10. HONG KONG
  11. SWITZERLAND
  12.  NEW ZEALAND
  13. KUWAIT
  14. USA
  15. SOUTH AFRICA
  16. FINLAND
  17. IRELAND
  18. JAPAN
  19. ZIMBABWE

POOL BREAKDOWN (WSF Championship)

Pool A 1, 8, 9, 16, 17
Pool B 2, 7, 10, 15, 18
Pool C 3, 6, 11, 14, 19
Pool D 4, 5, 12, 13

Notes:

In accordance with World Squash Federation Championship Rule this is an interim draw.