Favourites Egypt claim World Team Squash Championship with win over holders England

The defending champions proved no match for a power-packed Egyptian line-up as Karim Abdel Gawad and Ali Farag delivered the wins to give their team a decisive 2-0 lead.

World Champion Gawad was first up against England’s Nick Matthew and triumphed 11-9, 11-3, 11-7 in 34 minutes with ‘The Wolf’ seemingly hampered by injury.

The pair were followed onto court by new US Open champion Farag who proved too strong on the day for England No2 James Willstrop, winning 11-5, 11-9, 11-5 in 36 minutes.

The victories for the Egyptian top two left Marwan ElShorbagy and Daryl Selby facing a dead rubber with the pair not required to take to the court.

England presented three-time world champion Matthew, the 37-year-old world No.6 appearing in the event for the seventh time since 2003, to face 26-year-old Gawad, a championship debutant.

Matthew was clearly not the player who despatched Australian number one Ryan Cuskelly in straight games just 24 hours earlier. The Yorkshireman was forced to take a three-minute 'self-inflicted injury break' midway through the second game – and it later transpired that he had suffered a minor recurrence of his old ankle injury during the warm-up for the match.

After just 34 minutes, Egypt took the lead when Gawad claimed an 11-9, 11-3, 11-7 victory.

Egyptian number two Farag was also making his debut in the final – while English opponent James Willstrop was not only celebrating his fifth successive World Team Championship battle against an Egyptian opponent since 2003, but also his 156th cap for his country.

Former world number one Willstrop, 34, did what he could to keep his 24-year-old opponent at bay – but Farag was clearly on a mission and after 36 minutes clasped his face in his hands as he celebrated his championship-winning 11-5, 11-9, 11-5 triumph.

“The word big is an understatement – it is much bigger than big!” gushed Farag when asked to comment on the significance of the win.

“I felt I had the whole Egyptian squash community on my shoulders. I wanted to make them proud.

“Four years ago, I was still at college. I remember watching the final – it was a dream of mine to wear the Egyptian shirt.

“Winning the US Open with my wife Nour (El Tayeb) was very special, of course – but, because this was for Egypt, I can say it is the highlight of my career.”

When it was pointed out that Egypt had the luxury of not playing their fourth string Ramy Ashour, one of the sport's greatest names and a three-time world champion, Farag said: “It says a lot about how much he values the team that Ramy, our captain, was happy to leave the team selection to our coach and not play tonight.

“We will celebrate for just tonight then get back to work to prepare for next week’s AJ Bell PSA World Championship.”

[1] EGYPT bt [2] ENGLAND 2/0
Karim Abdel Gawad (EGY) bt Nick Matthew (ENG) 11-9, 11-3, 11-7 (34mins)
Ali Farag (EGY) bt James Willstrop (ENG) 11-5, 11-9, 11-5 (36mins)
Bronze medallists: [4] AUSTRALIA & [5] HONG KONG CHINA

5th place play-off:
[3] FRANCE bt [6] NEW ZEALAND 2/1
Gregoire Marche lost to Paul Coll 9-11, 11-7, 9-11, 8-11 (73m)
Mathieu Castagnet bt Campbell Grayson 11-7, 11-5, 11-6 (45m)
Lucas Serme bt Evan Williams 11-6, 11-9, 11-6 (37m)

7th place play-off:
[8] INDIA bt [10] SCOTLAND 2/1
Vikram Malhotra lost to Alan Clyne 5-11, 14-16, 7-11 (37m)
Harinder Pal Singh Sandhu bt Greg Lobban 11-9, 12-10, 11-9 (41m)
Mahesh Mangaonkar bt Douglas Kempsell 11-8, 11-7, 5-11, 11-1 (44m)

9th place play-off:
[7] GERMANY bt [11] USA 2/0
Simon Rösner bt Todd Harrity 11-8, 8-11, 11-3, 11-5 (37m)
Raphael Kandra bt Christopher Gordon 11-9, 11-5, 11-7 (35m)

11th place play-off:
[12] SPAIN bt [9] MALAYSIA 2/1
Iker Pajares Bernabeu lost to Nafiizwan Adnan 8-11, 12-10, 7-11, 6-11 (63m)
Carlos Cornes bt Eain Yow Ng 5-11, 5-11, 11-9, 11-7, 11-7 (62m)
Bernat Jaume bt Addeen Idrakie 11-2, 11-8, 11-9 (42m)

13th place play-off:
[14] CANADA bt [13] WALES 2/1
Nick Sachvie lost to Peter Creed 6-11, 8-11, 8-11 (45m)
Shawn Delierre bt Emyr Evans 11-6, 13-11, 3-11, 7-11, 17-15 (92m)
Andrew Schnell bt David Haley 7-11, 11-8, 12-10, 9-11, 11-7 (71m)

15th place play-off:
[15] FINLAND bt [16] SWITZERLAND 2/1
Olli Tuominen lost to Nicolas Müller 11-7, 5-11, 11-13, 12-14 (50m)
Miko Äijänen bt Dimitri Steinmann 11-8, 13-11, 11-4 (32m)
Jami Äijänen bt Roman Allinckx 6-11, 11-9, 11-4, 6-11, 12-10 (52m)

17th place play-off:
[18] ARGENTINA bt [22] SOUTH AFRICA 2/0
Leandro Romiglio bt Christo Potgieter 11-7, 11-7, 11-9 (34m)
Robertino Pezzota bt Rodney Durbach 7-11, 12-10, 9-11, 14-12, 11-9 (64m)

19th place play-off:
[17] PAKISTAN bt [20] IRELAND 2/0
Farhan Zaman bt Arthur Gaskin 11-6, 11-7, 11-8 (24m)
Shahjahan Khan bt Brian Byrne 11-8, 11-9, 11-9 (35m)

21st place play-off:
[19] CZECH REPUBLIC bt [21] JAMAICA 2/0
Daniel Mekbib bt Christopher Binnie 8-11, 11-6, 11-8, 11-6 (42m)
Ondrej Uherka bt Lewis Walters 11-4, 11-8, 13-11 (35m)

23rd place play-off:
[24] IRAQ bt [23] AUSTRIA 2/1
Husham Al-Saadi lost to Aqeel Rehman 7-11, 2-11, 6-11 (25m)
Hasanain Dakheel bt Jakob Dirnberger 7-11, 11-4, 11-8, 11-2 (36m)
Rasool Alsultani bt Lukas Windischberger 11-9, 11-3, 11-6 (30m)