The research will also look at new options that will help raise officiating standards generally.

The two-phase project, which is due to be completed by August this year, will involve a combination of information-gathering and interviews by the Swiss Lausanne-based Institute before recommendations are made at the second stage.

Welcoming the partnership, WSF President N Ramachandran commented: “Squash is blessed with some excellent referees from across the globe, but we do need to enlarge the pool and ensure that they have the best possible resources to enable them to improve – from local right through to international level. This study by the esteemed AISTS team will provide new perspectives for us as part of that process.”

AISTS Executive Director Dr Claude Stricker is pleased to confirm that the project is already underway: “The AISTS looks at innovative solutions to develop qualified referees in the sport of squash and follows a multidisciplinary approach in this process. The AISTS integrates knowledge from different disciplines such as management, psychology, economics, technology, and incorporates the knowledge from the best case studies found in other sports.”

The Ambassador Programme international promotional initiative was launched by the World Squash Federation two years ago. With two of the sport’s leading international players, plus an international coach and referee, the WSF Ambassadors first visited the Baltic country of Latvia - then last year, spearheaded by David and El Shorbagy, the team highlighted the appeal of Squash to the public and media in the African countries of Malawi and Namibia.

The players will integrate with the local squash communities in Panama City and the Venezuelan capital Caracas, providing clinics and exhibition matches. Meanwhile coaching and refereeing workshops will be hosted in Venezuela by Ronny Vlassaks, the highly-experienced European Squash Federation Tutor who is also the Head Coach of the Dutch and Belgian national squash teams; and Scotsman Ian Allanach, a former WSF top referee and now a worldwide refereeing assessor.

Panama City now boasts more than 50 courts since the launch of the Racquet Club of Panama – with three courts – in 1981. Despite not having a player in either the men’s or women’s world rankings yet, the country already participates in the Pan Am Squash Championships and stages four national championship tournaments every year.

“To have these squash superstars coming to Panama will not only bring media interest here, but give our squash community an exciting opportunity to interact with them, and help us bring new players into our wonderful sport,” said the excited two-time Panama national champion Pedro Altamiranda.

Meanwhile, Squash Venezuela President Francisco Paradisi was also enthused: “In Venezuela we have around 100 courts. We are very excited about the visit of the WSF Ambassadors group as this will bring us a unique opportunity to promote squash, especially among the girls. I am sure it will be a great experience for squash and non-squash players.”

| More WSF Ambassador Stories |

With a growth rate of around 25% a year, the sport has taken off significantly in the last ten years – following the building of the first court in 1976 in Brodnica by construction workers who simply wanted to play squash while working there!

The WSF World Junior Championships will take place in Wroclaw at the Hasta La Vista Club, a centre which boasts 15 squash courts including an all-glass permanent showcourt.

Poland first established itself on the international squash map, however, in 2011 when the European Individual Championships were staged in Warsaw, then later in 2012 when the Sebo Squash & Art Festival was held on a court erected in the open air in the centre of Krakow.

The reasons for such strong growth – according to Tomasz Banasiak, President of the Polish Squash Federation – centre around education of investors and players, and the provision of local event opportunities.

The Federation organised 463 events in Poland last year.

“Squash is probably the best-matched sport for our country, fitting our geographical conditions for the whole year,” said Banasiak. “It also responds to the needs of our active and hungry-for-success developing Polish population.

“We can see independent investors continuing to spread clubs widely in the whole country. The Polish Squash Federation provides an increasingly professional environment for adults and juniors, high-performance and recreational players with coaches, and referees – including all our tournaments at different levels.

“The World Junior Championship 2013 in Wroclaw is the milestone to the expansion of squash this year,” added Banasiak. “Becoming a part of the 2020 Olympic Games would give us another kick among all activities led in Poland by those passionate for Squash.”

World Squash Federation CEO Andrew Shelley added: “Poland now has 100,000 players spread across the country – and part of the reason for this growth is that Poles have really taken to a sport that provides great exercise without eating too much into their leisure time.

“The sport is being embraced by students and seen as a great opportunity by investors – and leisure-time for the sport is increasingly being provided free by employers.

“This growth has begun to be seen in success in the world professional Tours, with Polish players breaking into the men’s top 200, and into the women’s top 100,” Shelley explained.

“The WSF World Juniors in Wroclaw in July will no doubt attract additional media attention for the sport as well as giving local players the chance to see all the very best young players in the world in action.”

Picture shows action in the 2011 European Individual Championships taking place on the all-glass showcourt erected in the Blue City shopping centre in Warsaw. Photograph courtesy of Pawel Dziurzynski

Their support follows the launch last month of a new online campaign to build support for Squash’s ambition to join the Olympic Games using the Twitter ID @vote4squash.

The WSF campaign has already gained the support of current and former athletes including Roger Federer, Sachin Tendulkar, Muttiah Muralitharan, Victoria Pendleton, Greg Searle, and Squash legend Jahangir Khan.

WSF CEO Andrew Shelley said: “It’s great to have the support of members of the England Rugby team, particularly given Rugby Sevens’ success in gaining a place in the Olympic Games at Rio in 2016.

“We are entering a crucial few months in our campaign to join the Olympic Games Sports Programme and building online support and awareness is an important part of our campaign strategy.”

The 24th WSF Men’s World Team Championship, hosted by the Fédération Française de Squash, will be held from 09-15 June in Mulhouse, at both the Espace Squash 3000 Centre and the Palais Des Sports - where action will take place on three all-glass showcourts.

It was in the French city of Nimes last year that the French Squash Federation first unveiled its three state-of-the-art all-glass courts at the 2012 Women’s World Team Championship.

“Thanks to the acquisition of three glass courts (which is a first for a national federation in the world) we have noticed a very significant increase of interest from the media, and especially TV, for squash,” said FFS President Jacques Fontaine. “This tool is specific to squash and unique in sport today.

“The 32 nations expected in Mulhouse will provide a fantastic spectacle.”

Egypt will defend the title men’s world team title they won for the fourth time in Germany in 2011 after upsetting favourites England in the final in Paderborn.

Hosts France, twice runners-up, will be looking to win the title for the first tim, while Botswana and Poland will be making their first appearances in the championship.

| 2011 Men’s World Teams, Paderborn |

Qatari Abdulla Al Tamimi and England’s Emily Whitlock head the latest WSF World Junior Circuit Rankings according to the new February list published today by the World Squash Federation.

Al Tamimi retains the top position he first achieved in November. After winning the Liechtenstein Junior Open last year, the 18-year-old went on to win the Dutch Junior Open in Amsterdam.

Jordan’s Ahmad Al-Saraj and Englishman Richie Fallows hold onto second and third positions, respectively – Al-Saraj winning his own country’s junior open in April before making the final of the Hong Kong Junior Open in July, and 17-year-old Fallows clinching both the Nordic Junior Open and Swiss Junior Open trophies late last year.

Fellow Englishman Ollie Holland moves up to fourth place – while Egyptian Karim El Hammamy, boosted by an unexpected semi-final berth in last month’s British Junior Open, bursts into the list for the first time at No5.

Macclesfield-born Emily Whitlock rounded off her illustrious junior career in style in January by winning the women’s British Junior Open title for the first time – not only becoming the only home winner, but also adding to the U17 crown she won two years before.

The Colwyn Bay-based 18-year-old also won the European Junior Championship last year – and is already establishing herself on the WSA Tour, with six titles to her credit.

India’s Anaka Alankamony moves up to second place, boosted by title success in both the Indian Junior Open and theAsian Junior Championships.

Third place is taken by Karla Urrutia, the 18-year-old from Mexico who won both the PanAm Junior Championship and the Canadian Junior Open.

A leap of 11 places has taken Ho Ka Po to fourth place after the 18-year-old from Hong Kong won both the Malaysian Junior Open and Hong Kong Junior Open crowns.

US 16-year-old Sabrina Sobhy is clearly following in the footsteps of her older world-junior-championship-winning sister Amanda. From outside the top 100 in the November list, Sobhy junior leaps to No7 boosted by title success in the 2012 US Junior Open.

Men’s top 10:

Women’s top 10:

The WSF World Junior Circuit Rankings - based on the under-19 age grouping and launched in 2011 – are issued quarterly, based on results achieved in national junior opens, regional championships and WSF World Junior Individual Championships.

“Squash has enjoyed a tremendous recent run – beginning with the successful IOC inspection visit to the Hong Kong Open early in December, and followed shortly afterwards by our presentation to the IOC Programme Commission in Lausanne,” said Ramachandran.

“And this weekend we were not only treated to the best live TV coverage of the sport I have ever seen, on Sky and Eurosport, but also an avalanche of positive press coverage around the world – all of which is inspiring me to feel that we have made huge progress since our last Olympic bid four years ago.

“We know that one of our challenges was the televisual aspect of squash – but, thanks to the significant investment in SquashTV by our colleagues at the PSA, our coverage is now first-rate,” added Ramachandran. “The clarity of the ball, the regular use of super slow mos, and the introduction of ‘video reviews’ have all contributed towards a television ‘product’ which is streets ahead of what we were used to in the past.

“And this was endorsed by new broadcasters adding squash to their programming this weekend, expanding our reach to a potential worldwide audience of more than 300 million,” concluded the WSF President.

Ace cyclist Victoria Pendleton, a gold medallist at London 2012, joined fellow British medallists Joanna Rowsell and Greg Searle at last week’s World Series Finals in London.

“Squash is a very physically demanding sport and it’s also very spectator-friendly,” said Pendleton. “It has all the qualities required to make it a great Olympic sport. I don’t know why it isn’t in already.”

#1: Ramy and Nicol make the case

#2: Squash is played where ???

Squash Leads on ‘Innovation’ in Bid Presentation

New Squash 2020 Promotional Film Unveiled

19 December, Lausanne: The World Squash Federation (WSF) today presented its case for Squash to be included in the2020 Olympic Games to the International Olympic Committee’s Programme Commission. The WSF delegation was led by its President N Ramachandran, and featured men’s world No1 James Willstrop, WSF Chief ExecutiveAndrew Shelley, and junior player Reyna Pacheco.

President Ramachandran said: “Our presentation set out to show that squash has been on a journey of innovation over recent years. Developments such as state-of-art all glass courts, under floor lighting, referee video review, side court entrances, and improved in-venue presentation have all led to a dramatic change in the broadcast and fan experience.

“We also stressed the global reach and appeal of the sport. All five continents have produced both male and female world champions, and the current women’s top 20 features players from 12 countries spread across every continent. There can be no doubt that if squash were to be included in the Olympic Games Programme it would provide more countries with a chance to be on the medal podium.

“It was a great session,” added Ramachandran. “The Programme Commission showed a real interest in the development of our sport.”

The WSF also unveiled its Squash 2020 bid film today, which captures the excitement and recent innovations in the sport, and what Squash would bring to the Olympic Games. Featuring two of the game’s most exciting players – Malaysia’s Nicol David, currently bidding to win a record seventh world title, and Egypt’s Ramy Ashour, the newly-crowned men’s world champion – the film was one of three shown as part of the WSF presentation to the IOC Programme Commission.

James Willstrop said: “Squash represents the essence of Olympic sport. It’s gladiatorial given that we are the only racket sport where players share the same space, and to excel requires a mix of mental strategy, skill, athleticism and fitness. In the past few seasons there has been a revolution in the way squash is presented to spectators. MCs, music and lighting have really helped to get the fans involved – and that’s great for players.

“I’m 29 years old so my dream to compete in the Olympic Games may never be realised, but if I can play a part in helping squash become part of the Olympic Programme, I could even retire a happy man.”

One of the highlights of the presentation was the story of Reyna Pacheco and how squash has helped change her life.

Reyna Pachero, who was born in Mexico, now lives in the United States and became the highest ranked Urban player in US Squash, added: “My mother brought my older brother and myself to the United States when I was four. We were illegal immigrants, I grew up with very little at home and I didn’t believe there was much I could achieve. My life was completely transformed when Squash was introduced to me.

“Squash hasn’t just turned my life around – it probably saved my life. It inspired something in me that created a whole new path for me and recently led to me being awarded a scholarship from the Bill Gates Foundation to attend Columbia University. Perhaps one day I may even be able to realise my dream and share my story with the world as an Olympian in the 2020 Games.”

Highlighting the technical qualities of squash, WSF CEO Andrew Shelley said: “The format we have proposed to the IOC Programme Commission is Men’s and Women’s Singles Championships involving 32 male and 32 female players. Matches would take place on two state-of-the art all glass courts, each with a capacity of up to 4,000 spectators, utilising steep seating to create a really strong arena affect and great atmosphere. Squash would be easy and low cost to integrate into the Olympic Games, with just 64 athletes, two competition courts that can be built in a matter of days, and only 20 officials.

“Squash also has the advantage of sharing a venue if required, or being staged in an iconic, visually stunning environment and our sport has a track record of doing exactly this. For example, in front of the Pyramids, alongside Hong Kong Harbour and at Grand Central Station in New York.”

WSF Press release about the bid presentation

After unsuccessful attempts to be selected for both the 2012 and 2016 Games, Squash has consolidated a variety of initiatives which the WSF will present to the IOC Programme Commission on Wednesday.

The presentation follows the IOC ‘inspection’ visit to Hong Kong earlier this month where the final stages of the 27th edition of the Hong Kong Open were staged in spectacular style on an all-glass showcourt sited at the Cultural Centre Piazza overlooking the waterfront at Tsim Sha Tsui.

“This is an important milestone for Squash’s ambition to join the Olympic Games Sports Programme,” said President Ramachandran. “The presentation team is looking forward to demonstrating to the IOC Programme Commission how we have listened and learnt since our last bid, the innovations that have been introduced into Squash over the last few seasons, and what Squash can bring to the Olympic Movement if we are successful in our campaign.”

Ramachandran and Willstrop will be joined in the presentation party by WSF CEO Andrew Shelley and Mexican Reyna Pacheco.

Tijuana-born 18-year-old Pacheco, now a freshman at Columbia University, arrived in the US as an illegal immigrant, aged four. Her troubled life was ‘totally transformed’ when she discovered squash at an urban initiative in San Diego, where she rapidly became the best junior in the programme.

In a repeat of their dramatic home victory over England in the 2008 final, Egypt once again beat the top seeds to claim the Women’s World Team title in a thrilling climax in Nimes.

England were appearing in their tenth successive final, but their last victory was in 2006, and today they fielded the same three players as in the 2008 Cairo climax.

Alison Waters, who had lost the decider in Cairo, weathered a mid-match storm from Nour El Sherbini to give England the lead, but Laura Massaro couldn’t quite handle a similar barrage of winners coming from Raneem El Weleily’s racket as the Egyptian reversed the result of their 2008 match.

That left Jenny Duncalf versus Omneya Abdel Kawy for the title. In 2008 they had played the first match, which Kawy won, and she did so again, coming from 6-8 down in a tense deciding fifth game to take it 11-8 and give Egypt another world title.

WWT Final – from the couch, as it happened

The first match of the final of the Women’s World Teams in Nimes pitted two players who have recently climbed into the world’s top ten – England’s Alison Waters playing her way back there after an extended injury layoff, Egypt’s double world junior champion Nour El Sherbini getting there after and equally impressive run of form.

Waters, like the rest of the England team, played in the final against Egypt in 2008 in Cairo, where Sherbini was a spectator, yet to make her mark on the world scene.

The Englishwoman got the better of the opening exchanges, going ahead 7-2 partly thanks to three lucky winners. Sherbini got one of her own to make it 7/3, but Waters closed out the game 11/5 to take the lead.

The second was close from the start, with both players striking the ball well, but from 7-all Sherbini edged ahead, putting in some lovely winners as she levelled the match 11-8.

Sherbini carried the momentum into the third, racing to a 5-1 and 6-2 lead, but some Egyptian errors and volley kills from Waters levelled it at 7-all. 8-all, 9-all, some tremendous retrieving from Waters as Sherbini needed three winning drops to reach game ball, then a Waters volley into the tin and Egypt took the lead 11-9.

It was Waters who got the better start in the fourth, quickly going 4-1 up then getting the better of several tough rallies to keep the lead at 6-3. The end came quickly with a number of errors from Sherbini for 11-3, at which point she requested a three-minute injury timeout during which she received treatment on her right ankle.

Whether that affected her or not was hard to tell as Waters was in great form in the decider, going 7-1 as she took control, putting the ball away nicely. Sherbini pulled three points back, Waters took three of her own and it was 10-4 match ball. One was saved but Waters controlled the last rally, putting a crosscourt volley out of her opponent’s reach and putting England one-nil up.

“She played well in the second and third games and I was getting stuck behind her,” admitted the winner. “I needed to get back to the front of the court to control things and thankfully I managed to do that.”

Next up was a repeat match from the 2008 final, Laura Massaro and Raneem El Weleily. Both have risen up the rankings since then, and here we had the current world #2 and #3 on show.

Massaro started strongly, going 4-0 up, even trying a couple of untypical reverse angles – the first one worked, the second didn’t – as she extended it to 7-2. Weleily found a few tins as Massaro took the lead 11-3.

Neither could open up a gap in a much more competitive second game which saw them go point for point all the way to 9-all, Massaro winning points by keeping the ball tight, most of Weleily’s coming through winning drops. Massaro just reached a boast to get to 10-9, but Weleily took a long rally to level, then two more tough rallies, finishing with a straight drive for 12-10 and one game all.

Had the tide turned? It certainly looked like it as the Egyptian sped into a 4-0 lead with some lovely touch winners. A couple of points back, but then the flow of winners – a highlight being a soft trickle boast on the run for 7-3 – resumed as Raneem went ahead 10-3, and took the lead 11-4 as Laura tinned at the front.

Many players might have buckled under that assault, but Massaro is made of stern stuff, and she got back to the task in hand, took an early lead in the fourth then profited from some Egyptian errors to lead 8/3. Was that enough? As it happened, no. Raneem closed to within one point at 9-8, then drifted a drive out of court to give Laura two game balls.

The first was saved with a boast into the nick, then Laura was halfway out of court expecting a stroke (as was this observer on the couch) only to disbelievingly hear a let given. Two strokes to Raneem to rub salt into the wound and it was match ball 11-10, finished off with a nick on the side wall for 12-10 and we had ourselves a decider.

At which point the youtube stream died …

Apparently Jenny Duncalf took the opening game against Omneya Abdel Kawy 11-7, and the stream came back online as the Egyptian struck back to open up a 5-1 lead in the second (no, I’m not going to watch the replay, sorry).

Kawy pulled ahead to 7-2, Duncalf came back to 7-5, three quick winners took the Egyptian to 10-5 but she needed a stroke on the fourth attempt to level the match 11-8.

In the third Kawy took a leaf out of El Weleily’s book as she opened up a 3-0 lead, then pulled away fom 3-3 with a series of dazzling winners to take the game 11-4 and put Egypt 11 points away from the title.

So, another test of the English nerves, and Duncalf wasn’t found wanting as she went 4-0 up in the fourth, and although Omneya settled into it the Englishwoman kept that gap intact to level the match 11-6 (on a stroke that was less of a stroke than the one Massaro thought she’d won her fourth on).

Both were nervous now that it came down to an 11-point shootout for the World Team title, and helped by errors from both sides the lead changed hands several times until Duncalf led 8-6. Omneya handled the situation well though as she took five points in a row, finishing on a stroke, to give Egypt the title once more.

“I’m really happy,” said Omneya. “It’s the first time I’ve played the deciding match in a team event, it’s a totally different pressure.

“Jenny played really well, you never knew who might win until the very last point, thank God I got it!”

Steve Cubbins, from the couch

WSF Women’s World Team Championships, Nimes, Semi-Finals:

[1] England 2-1 [3] Malaysia
Laura Massaro 0-3 Nicol David 5-11, 6-11, 8-11
Jenny Duncalf 3-0 Delia Arnold               11-7, 11-9, 11-9
Alison Waters 3-1 Low Wee Wern   11-6, 7-11, 11-9, 11-5

[2] Egypt 3-0 [6] Australia
Raneem El Weleily 3-1 Rachael Grinham 11-7, 14-16, 11-9, 11-9
Nour El Tayeb 3-0 Melody Francis                  11-6, 11-2, 11-5
Nour El Sherbini 2-1 Donna Urquhart           12-10, 6-11, 11-8

Egypt ease into the final as England deny Malaysia

Australia’s Rachael Grinham came into the first match of the semi-finals with a plan, the veteran former world number one giving the ball a lot of air at every opportunity.

It worked well for the first three games as current world number two Raneem El Weleily made numerous errors as she tried to put the ball away, but having edged the third the Egyptian went 10-4 up in the fourth, finally putting paid to Grinham’s attempted comeback on her sixth match ball.

Nour El Tayeb put the 2008 champions into another final as she beat Melody Francis in three quick games to end the defending champions’ reign, leaving it to Nour El Sherbini to apply the finishing touches.

In the second semi-final Nicol David extended her unbeaten run in the event to 26 matches as she beat England’s Laura Massaro in straight games to put Malaysia 1-0 up against the top seeds.

Jenny Duncalf levelled the match for the English, winning three close games against Delia Arnold to set up a decider.

Alison Waters started the final match against Delia Arnold well, went through a sticky patch in the middle, but after edging the third game powered ahead to close out the fourth and put England into a TENTH successive final (and tomorrow it will be three of the last four against Egypt).

Rachael Grinham gave them a great start as she beat Annie Au in the top string and Donna Urquhart delivered the final blow as she beat Joey Chan in straight games.

“I just can’t believe it,” said Urquhart, “I’ve been extremely nervous over the last couple of days, playing for your team is so different from playing for yourself but today I had to forget about all that.

“We didn’t expect to get this far – but I didn’t want to let everybody down,” concluded Donna.

“We came her to make our seeding – so to be in the semis is just amazing,” said Aussie team manager Vicki Cardwell, “it’s heartening for our kids back home.”

It wasn’t a walk in the park, but nevertheless it took second seeds Egypt just six games to end the Indian run as wins from Raneem El Weleily and Nour El Sherbini took the 2008 champions into the semi-finals.

Third seeds Malaysia were next through as Nicol David and Low Wee Wern took them 2-0 up against New Zealand, and top seeds England were just as ruthless as Laura Massaro and Alison Waters gave them an unassailable lead over Ireland.

“It was another strong performance from the team,” said coach David Campion. “Laura’s got a good record against Madeline so we were confident there – and Alison closed it out for us. We’re happy to get through unscathed.”

Full results and coverage:
squashsite.co.uk/2009/wwt2012nimes

After two days of Pool matches it was down to the knockout/monrad stage of the Women’s World Team Championship in Nimes, with the first round of the last 16 draw.

There were just two upset results in the pool matches with France and India, seeded #9 and #10, beating #7 and #8 seeds Ireland and Netherlands. Because of the way the draw works those two wins effectively cancelled each other out as those teams met today.

First up was India versus the Dutch. India took the lead but Natalie Grinham levelled for the Dutch, and in the  decider Joshna Chinappa came from 2-1 down against Orla Noom to put India into the quarter-finals for the first time.

“It’s awesome to be part of the team which has got into the world’s top eight for the first time – but I’m looking forward to taking it one step forward,” said Joshna.

Then hosts France took on Ireland, but they were unable to emulate the Indians to produce a second upset as Laura Mylotte and Madeline Perry – with tough a 3-2 win over Camille Serme – took the Irish 2-0 up and into the last eight.

Meanwhile defending champions Australia won 3-0 against the USA while New Zealand versus Canada went to a decider with Jaclyn Hawkes clinching it for the fifth-seeded Kiwis to make it a down-under double.

Second and third seeds Egypt and Malaysia made quick work of their matches against Mexico and the Czech Republic, but Hong Kong were made to fight hard against South Africa with their top pairing of Annie Au and Joey Chan both winning 3-2 to secure a comeback 2-1 win.

Not only did Annie have to come from 0-2 down to keep HK in the match, but Joey was then two points away from defeat before reeling off six points in a row to clinch her match!

“It was bad enough when we dropped the first match, but when Annie then went 2/0 down, I thought ‘we’re finished’,” admitted Hong Kong coach Faheem Khan. ”South Africa played really well – and I must say that I think we were lucky to get through,” he added.

The quarter-final lineup was completed when top seeds England cruised to a 3-0 win over Wales.

Main tournament page: squashsite.co.uk/2009/wwt2012nimes

It was the final sets of pool matches today in Nimes, on the second day of the Women’s World Teams.

England, Egypt, Malaysia, New Zealand and Australia were able to sit back and watch, having already finished top of their pools, while Malaysia and Hong Kong had one final pressure-free match to confirm their places as pool winners.

India and hosts France had the tasks of beating the third seeded teams in their pools to consolidate yesterday’s upset results and both achieved that with solid wins over Argentina and Germany respectively.

“It’s huge,” said Indian National Coach Cyrus Poncha. “Our aim was to top the pool – and making the quarter-finals is our goal.”

That settled the eight pool winners, but elsewhere there were plenty of decisive matches to determine who finished second in their pools to guarantee a place in the last sixteen.

USA, Mexico, South Africa and Wales won their crucial final matches in the earlier play, and Canada and the Czech Republic grabbed the final two spots in the evening session.

US coach Chris Walker was happy: “The beauty of having this young squad is that they are gaining important experience and learning all the time.”

Tournament Page, with live streaming and replays:
squashsite.co.uk/2009/wwt2012nimes.htm

It was a good start for the top eight seeds, on the first day’s play of the Women’s World Team Championships in Nimes, France, with each of them registering 3-0 wins in their opening matches.

Hosts France, seeded #9, produced a minor upset in the first evening session when they edged past the Netherlands, seeded #8, to go top of pool H.

Elsewhere top seeds England, Egypt and Malaysia all notched up their second wins to finish top of pools A, B and C.

In the final set of evening matches fourth seeds Hong Kong scraped home against the Czech Republic with Liu Tsz-Ling coming from 0-2 down in the decider, while 10th seeds India produced the upset of the day with a 2-1 win over Ireland, seeded #7, to take control of Pool G.

So, the winners of pools A, B, C, D, E and F are decided, with England, Egypt, New Zealand and Australia enjoying a rest day tomorrow while Hong Kong and Malaysia finish off their already-won pools, and in all likelihood France and India will top their pools to form the top eight.

There are a few crucial matches to decide second spots and a place in the last 16 playoffs to come though …