[1] Egypt 2-0 [2] England
#2 : Mostafa Asal 3-0 Marwan ElShorbagy 11-9, 11-9, 11-9 (49m)
#1 : Ali Farag 3-2 Mohamed ElShorbagy 8-11, 11-2, 7-11, 11-8, 11-7 (70m)
#3 : Mazen Hesham v Patrick Rooney match withdrawn
Final : Three in a row for Egypt
Egypt have won their third consecutive WSF Men’s World Team Championship after a thrilling contest with England in the final in Tauranga, New Zealand with victories by Mostafa Asal and Ali Farag. The final was a fifth in a row between the two, and a third consecituve victory for Egypt.
First up Asal took three close games against Marwan ElShorbagy, then Farag got the better of a five game encounter with Mohamed ElShorbagy, twice coming back from a game down to take the decider and the title.
After his team were presented with their medals by WSF Vice President and four-time World Champion Dame Susan Devoy and 1986 World Champion Ross Norman, Egypt coach Hesham El Attar said:
“It’s absolutely amazing! There was a lot of tension; I know it was slightly expected that we had to deliver, but we wanted it badly. That expectation creates extra pressure. We had to distract ourselves with daily routine and not think too far ahead. One hour at a time.”
“As everyone knows, anything can happen and as we saw in the matches it was very tense and rallies were very close. Ali felt that responsibility and at one point wasn’t very happy with his game. He had to make some changes and then went back, and his retrieving was amazing.
“It’s a wonderful feeling and it hasn’t quite sunk in yet.”
Final Positions : 1: Egypt, 2: England, 3 France / Switzerland, 5 Wales, 6 USA, 7 Germany, 8 Scotland, 9 Czechia, 10 Hong Kong, 11 Malaysia, 12 Australia, 13 New Zealand, 14 Canada, 15 Nigeria, 16 South Africa, 17 Ireland, 18 Netherlands, 19 Japan, 20 Philippines, 21 Korea, 22 Cook Islands, 23 Samoa, 24 Tahiti
Semi-Finals : Egypt and England set up fifth successive final
Paderborn, Mulhouse, Marseille, Washington and now Tauranga – top seeds Egypt and England eased through their semi-finals to set up a fifth successive World Teams final between the pair …
[2] England 2-0 [3] France
Mohamed ElShorbagy 3-0 Victor Crouin 11-7, 11-4, 11-4 (31m)
Marwan ElShorbagy 3-0 Baptiste Masotti 14-12, 11-5, 11-7 (32m)
Patrick Rooney v Auguste Dussourd
[1] Egypt 2-0 [4] Switzerland
Ali Farag 3-0 Nicolas Mueller 11-5, 11-7, 11-6 (28m)
Mazen Hesham 3-0 Dimitri Steinmann 11-7, 11-7, 11-8 (43m)
Youssef Soliman v Robin Gadola
Day FIVE : Top four seeds through to semis
The last eight teams did battle in Tauranga, with three matches on the Glass Court at the Mercury Baypark Arena.
First up were second seeds England against unseeded Germany, who finally met their match as Mohamed ElShorbagy and Adrian Waller both won 3-0 to see England progress.
Switzerland met USA and France met Wales in the next set of matches. Second seeds France advanced 2-0, but it took five game victories from Victor Crouin and Auguste Dussourd to avoid the tie going into a decider.
USA once more went the full distance, but victories from top Swiss pair Nicolas Mueller and Dimitri Steinmann sandwiched a win from Andrew Douglas taking Switzerland to the semi-finals for the first time.
Last up were defending champions Egypt who eased past Scotland with 3-0 wins from Ali Farag and Mazen Hesham.
[1] Egypt 2-0 [7] Scotland
Ali Farag 3-0 Greg Lobban 11-1, 11-6, 11-6 (28m)
Mazen Hesham 3-0 Alasdair Prott 11-6, 11-3, 11-5 (24m)
[4] Switzerland 2-1-[5] USA
Nicolas Mueller 3-2 Timothy Brownell 14-16, 11-7, 11-8, 4-11, 11-9 (64m)
Yannick Wilhelmi 1-3 Andrew Douglas 13-15, 16-18, 11-9, 3-11 (60m)
Dimitri Steinmann 3-1 Shahjahan Khan 12-14, 11-6, 11-4, 11-7 (67m)
[3] France 2-0 [6] Wales
Victor Crouin 3-2 Joel Makin 11-7, 11-8, 9-11, 9-11, 11-9 (78m)
Auguste Dussourd 3-2 Owain Taylor -11, 11-7, 11-7, 8-11, 11-6 (76m)
[2] England 2-0 Germany
Mohamed ElShorbagy 3-0 Raphael Kandra 11-8, 11-7, 11-3 (32m)
Adrian Waller 3-0 Valentin Rapp 11-5, 11-5, 11-2 (24m)
Day FOUR : Quarter-Finalists decided in Tauranga
The competition moved to the knockout stage on Day Four, with all eight last sixteen matches going to seeding. Six of the matches finished 2-0, with Scotland and USA taken to deciding matches by Hong Kong and hosts New Zealand.
[1] Egypt 2-0 South Africa
[7] Scotland 2-1 [8] Hong Kong
[4] Switzerland 2-0 Australia
[5] USA 2-1 New Zealand
[6] Wales 2-0 Czechia
[3] France 2-0 Nigeria
Germany 2-0 Canada
[2] England 2-0 Malaysia
Day THREE : top seeds ease to wins
The top eight seeds all won their second pool matches 3-0 (with only one game dropped between them!) to ensure qualification for the last sixteen knockout, with Pool H the only one not to finish to seeding with Germany in top spot over Hong Kong. Watch Day Three Replays
Pools Round Three
A : [1] Egypt 3-0 Ireland
B : [2] England 3-0 Philippines
C : [3] France 3-0 Netherlands
D : [4] Switzerland 3-0 Japan
E : [5] USA 3-0 Cook Islands
F : [6] Wales 3-0 Korea
G : [7] Scotland 3-0 Samoa
H : [8] Hong Kong 3-0 Tahiti
Day TWO : Germany upset Kong Kong as top seven seeds start with wins
After the second ranked teams all won on Day One, they took on the top eight seeds in Day Two matches. The top four seeds – Egypt, England, France and Switzerland – all won 3-0 without dropping a game.
In the 5-8 seeds, Scotland beat Canada 3-0 but USA and Wales – fifth and sixth seeds – were taken to deciding matches by Czechia and hosts New Zealand, while and Germany notched up a 2-1 win over eighth seeds Hong Kong to guarantee themselves top spot in Pool H.
Match of the day was USA v Czechia where all three matches went to five games with Shahjahan Khan completing the comeback win for USA.
Wednesday’s Day Three is the final day of Pool matches, with the top eight seeds taking on the third ranked teams.
Day ONE matches
A : [13/16] Malaysia 2-1 [17/20] Ireland
B : [13/16] South Africa 3-0 [17/20] P’ppines
C : [13/16] Australia 2-1 [17/20] Netherlands
D : [13/16] Nigeria 3-0 [17/20] Japan
E : [9/12] Czechia 3-0 [21/24] Cook Islands
F : [9/12] New Zealand 3-0 [21/24] Korea
G : [9/12] Canada 3-0 [21/24] Samoa
H : [9/12] Germany 3-0 [21/24] Tahiti
Day TWO Matches
A : [1] Egypt 3-0 Malaysia
B : [2] England 3-0 South Africa
C : [2] France 3-0 Australia
D : [4] Switzerland 3-0 Nigeria
E : [5] USA 2-1 Czechia
F : [6] Wales 2-1 New Zealand
G : [7] Scotland 3-0 Canada
H : [8] Hong Kong 1-2 Germany
Squads
Australia : Joseph White, Nick Calvert, Rhys Dowling, Dylan Molinaro
Canada : David Baillargeon, Salah Eltorgman, Liam Marrison, Brett Schille
Cook Islands : Manu Priest, Joshua Simeon, Brian Tapurau, Dylan Russell
Czechia : Viktor Byrtus, Daniel Mekbib, Jakub Solnicky, Martin Svec
Egypt : Ali Farag, Mostafa Asal, Mazen Hesham, Karim Abdel Gawad
England : Mohamed ElShorbagy, Marwan ElShorbagy, Patrick Rooney, Adrian Waller
France : Victor Crouin, Baptiste Masotti, Auguste Dussourd, Gregoire Marche
Germany : Raphael Kandra, Yannick Omlor, Valentin Rapp, Simon Rösner
Hong Kong : Tsz Kwan Lau, Henry Leung, Donald Tang, Chi Him Wong
Ireland : Sam Buckley, Sean Conroy, Michael Creaven, Oisin Logan
Japan : Yuta Ando, Yujin Ikeda, Naoki Sone, Shota Yasunari
Malaysia : Ameeshenraj Chandaran, Addeen Idrakie, Sanjay Jeeva, Hafiz Zhafri
Netherlands : Rowan Damming, Sam Gerrits, Hjalmer Mols, Thijs Roukens
New Zealand : Paul Coll, Lwamba Chileshe, Temwa Chileshe, Elijah Thomas
Nigeria : Onaopemipo Adegoke, Babatunde Ajagbe, Gabriel Olufunmilayo, Kehinde Samuel
Philippines : Reymark Begornia, Robert Garcia, David Pelino, Jonathan Reyes
Korea : Donghyun Ji, Hyeonbeom Kang, Dongjun Lee, Dongmin Lee
Samoa : Leo Apa Fatialofa, Donald Marfleet, Onesemo Old
Scotland : Greg Lobban, Rory Stewart, Alan Clyne, Alasdair Prott,
South Africa : Jean-Pierre Brits, Damian Groenewald, Dewald van Niekerk, Tristen Worth
Switzerland : Nicolas Mueller, Dimitri Steinmann, Yannick Wilhelmi, Robin Gadola,
Tahiti : Laurent Loudier, Adrien Maury, Kevin Pons, Kamal Soussi
USA : Andrew Douglas , Timmy Brownell, Shahjahan Khan, Spencer Lovejoy
Wales : Joel Makin, Emyr Evans, Elliot Morris, Owain Taylor
