Canada Survive Second Day Scare at WSF Women’s World Team Championship

No.7/8 seeds Canada survived a challenging encounter with Wales to win their first tie of the WSF Women’s World Team Squash Championship at the Madinaty Sporting Club in Cairo, Egypt.

Wales – who prior to the tournament had been expected to be seeded fourth until they lost World No.13 Tesni Evans to injury on the eve on the tournament – made an inauspicious start as Stacey Gooding was dispatched by Nikole Todd in just 18 minutes, but fought back brilliantly in the second match through Lowri Roberts.

World No.151 Roberts went 2-0 down to World No.50 Nicole Bunyan, before targeting the back corners well in a spirited comeback as she levelled the tie with a 3-2 victory.

Canadian No.1 and World No.17 Hollie Naughton, however, was able to keep her cool in the decider against Welsh World No.21 Emily Whitlock in an entertaining clash, with Commonwealth Games silver medallist Naughton recording a 11-8, 11-9, 8-11, 11-7 victory in 42 minutes to win the tie.

“I think it was a good team performance, Nicole [Bunyan] was unlucky. Nikki played great and Hollie is a great number one; it was a super strong performance!” Canada’s coach Vicky Lust said afterwards.

For the rest of the seeded teams, the day was a largely trouble-free affair. Top seeds and defending champions Egypt, playing in the day’s final match on the outdoor court, were in ruthless form even without World No.1 Nouran Gohar, with Nour El Tayeb, Hania El Hammamy and Nour El Sherbini easily brushing aside the Welsh team playing its second tie of the day.

USA, seeded to challenge Egypt for the title in the final, were also in top form, with Olivia Clyne, Sabrina Sobhy and Olivia Fiechter breezing past Germany’s Maya Weishar, Katerina Tycova and Saskia Beinhard.

Elsewhere, today saw a second team make its championship debut, following Chinese Taipei’s debut yesterday. Ukraine, whose juniors also made a debut appearance in this summer’s WSF World Junior Championship, marked a first ever appearance at the Women’s World Team Championship with a 3-0 defeat to Hong Kong, China in the morning session and then a second whitewash against England in the evening session.

Ukraine coach Kostiantyn Rybalchenko was in an upbeat mood afterwards, despite the defeats. “This is a perfect time for our team and our country to be represented and competing in this championship. It’s such a good news for us,” he said.

The pools stage of the WSF Women’s World Team Championship resumes tomorrow from 17:30 (GMT+2). You can watch all of the action live and free on worldsquash.tv.

Find out more on pools and schedules.

Keep up with the event by following the World Squash Federation on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, WORLDSQUASH.TV, and the official tournament website.

Results: WSF Women’s World Team Championship Pools Stage

Pool A: [1] EGYPT 3-0 WALES
Nour El Tayeb 3-0 Elin Harlow: 11-2, 11-4, 11-2 (14m)
Hania El Hammamy 3-0 Stacey Gooding:11-1, 11-4, 11-3 (17m)
Nour El Sherbini 3-0 Emily Whitlock: 11-2, 11-6, 11-4 (23m)

Pool A: [7/8] CANADA 2-1 WALES
Nikole Todd 3-0 Stacey Gooding: 11-4, 11-3, 11-6 (18m)
Nicole Bunyan 2-3 Lowri Roberts: 12-10, 11-5, 6-11, 7-11, 8-11 (44m)
Hollie Naughton 3-1 Emily Whitlock: 11-8, 11-9, 8-11, 11-7 (42m)

Pool B  [2] USA 3-0 GERMANY
Olivia Clyne 3-1 Maya Weishar: 11-9, 11-5, 8-11, 11-3 (31m)
Sabrina Sobhy 3-0 Katerina Tycova:  11-1, 11-4, 11-3 (20m)
Olivia Fiechter 3-0 Saskia Beinhard: 11-0, 11-3, 11-4 (19m)

Pool B:  [7/8] SCOTLAND 3-0 GERMANY
Alison Thomson 3-0 Sharon Sinclair: 11-6, 11-5, 12-10 (26m)
Georgia Adderley 3-1 Katerina Tycova: 9-11, 11-9, 11-5, 11-6 (35m)
Lisa Aitken 3-2 Saskia Beinhard: 4-11, 11-8, 11-6, 11-13, 11-8 (50m)

Pool C:  [3] ENGLAND 3-0 UKRAINE
Julianne Courtice 3-0 Anastasiia Krykun: 11-5, 11-2, 11-1 (14m)
Lucy Turmel 3-0 Milena Velychko: 11-2, 11-4, 11-4 (17m)
Jasmine Hutton 3-0 Anastasiia Kostiukova: 11-7, 11-7, 11-2 (22m)

Pool C: HONG KONG, CHINA 3-0 UKRAINE
Tong Tsz-Wing 3-0 Anastasiia Krykun: 11-2, 11-1, 11-1 (14m)
Chan Sin Yuk 3-0 Milena Velychko: 11-3, 11-2, 11-1 (15m)
Ho Tze-Lok 3-0 Anastasiia Kostiukova: 11-2, 11-1, 11-4 (20m)

Pool D: MALAYSIA 3-0 FINLAND
Chan Yiwen 3-0 Maarit Ekholm: 11-3, 11-2, 11-1 (33m)
Rachel Arnold 3-0 Riina Koskinen: 11-6, 11-5, 11-6 (19m)
Aifa Azman 3-0 Emilia Soini: 11-9, 11-4, 11-7 (27m)

Pool D: [4] FRANCE 3-0 CHINESE TAIPEI
Enora Villard 3-0 Yi-Chun Wu: 11-1, 11-0, 11-1 (14m)
Coline Aumard 3-0 Taipei Wang Yuan: 11-3, 11-4, 11-5 (20m)
Melissa Alves 3-0 Lee Yi-Hsuan: 11-0, 11-8, 11-3 (17m)

Pool D: [4] FRANCE 3-0 FINLAND
Enora Villard 3-0 Riina Koskinen: 11-2 11-7 11-2 (20m)
Camille Serme 3-0 Emilia Korhonen: 11-2 11-3 11-0 (16m)
Melissa Alves 3-0 Elilia Soini: 11-0 11-8 11-3 (22m)

Pool D: JAPAN 3-0 CHINESE TAIPEI
Erisa Sano Herring 3-0 Wei-Ting Huang: 11-7 11-5 11-2 (22m)
Risa Sugimoto 3-0 Wang Yuan: 11-6, 11-4, 11-5 (24m)
Akari Midorikawa 3-0 Lee Yi-Huan: 11-5, 11-1, 11-5 (22m)