USA and England Seal Semis Berths After World Junior Team Championship Upsets

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Sixth seeds USA and number five seeds England advanced to the semi-final stage of the 2016 World Junior Team Championships after upsetting France and India, respectively, in Bielsko-Biala, Poland.

USA went a game down after 16-year-old Frenchman Victor Crouin, the World No.199, defeated Spencer Lovejoy 3-2 and, after Benjamin Aubert went two games up against Andrew Douglas, the result looked to be heading in France’s favour.

But a superb fightback from Douglas saw him battle back to take three games without reply and his teammate Samuel Scherl won the deciding match against Sebastien Bonmalais to send USA through to the last four of this tournament for the first time where they will face Pakistan.

“Our match against Jordan last night was a tough one and we finished quite late,” said USA Head Coach Adam Hamill.

“We did a lot of recovery and came into the quarter finals believing we had a real chance.

“As coach, I am truly overwhelmed at the team’s performance. This is a deserved win which they have all worked extremely hard for over months and years. Having [USA Junior Men’s National Coach] Alex Stait and our sports physiologist Jeremy Mayer to keep the players moving makes all the difference.

“This is a historic moment for the US Junior Men’s team, with a guaranteed highest finish. We’re incredibly grateful for the support we have received from US Squash to make this event possible for us all.”

England, meanwhile, came up against India and were looking to reach the semi-final of the prestigious tournament for the first time since 2012, where they came fourth.

A trio of Kyle Finch, Charlie Lee and Adam Corcoran were all victorious for the four-time winners, with Abhay Singh, Velevan Senthilkumar and Adithya Raghavan all being put to the sword in a strong display of force from the Englishmen.

England will take on title favourites Egypt for a place in the final after the number one seeds dispatched New Zealand, while Pakistan’s win against Australia sees them up against USA.

Results – Men’s World Junior Team Championships 2016

Quarter-Final

[1] EGYPT 2-0 [9] NEW ZEALAND
Youssef Ibrahim Abdallah bt Finn Trimble 11-5, 11-1, 11-1 (18m)
Saadeldin Abouaish bt Scott Galloway 11-8, 11-3, 11-5 (24m)

[5] ENGLAND 3-0 [4] INDIA
Kyle Finch bt Abhay Singh 11-6, 11-3, 11-9 (35m)
Charlie Lee bt Velavan Senthilkumar 11-8, 11-5, 11-8 (43m)
Adam Corcoran bt Adithya Raghavan 11-5, 7-11, 11-4

[6] USA 2-1 [3] FRANCE
Spencer Lovejoy lost to Victor Crouin 8-11, 11-9, 6-11, 13-11, 3-11 (69m)
Andrew Douglas bt Benjamin Aubert 3-11, 8-11, 11-9, 11-8, 11-3 (55m)
Samuel Scherl bt Sébastien Bonmalais 11-5, 11-6, 13-15, 11-6 (70m)

[2] PAKISTAN 3-0 [10] AUSTRALIA
Ahsan Ayaz bt Alex Oswald 11-8, 11-8, 11-5 (31m)
Israr Ahmed bt Alex Eustace 11-5, 11-6, 11-5 (33m)
Abbas Shoukat bt William Curtis 11-6, 11-3 (20m)

9th – 12th place play-offs:

[11] HONG KONG CHINA 2-0 [8] CANADA
Lai Cheuk Nam Matthew bt Rahul Sehrawat 11-6, 11-6, 12-10
Ng Ka Yiu bt Michael Mehl 11-9, 11-9, 14-12
Chan Wui Ki Lincoln v Ravi Seth

[12] JORDAN 2-1 [17] SOUTH AFRICA
Hamza Alzubaidi lost to Callan Mackenzie Hall 11-6, 8-11, 11-13, 9-11
Mohammad Al Sarraj bt Richard-John Kuhn 11-8, 11-4, 11-4
Abedalkader Jeitan bt Sipho Ncube 11-8, 11-9, 9-11, 11-9

17th – 21st place play-offs:

[13] GUATEMALA 2-1 [21] POLAND
Ricardo Toscano bt Mateusz Szewczyk 11-4, 11-8, 14-12
Junior Enríquez Franco bt Maksymilian Wielgus 11-7, 11-2, 11-7
Roberto Urruela Bowen lost to Filip Jarota 5-11, 7-11, 10-12

[18] ARGENTINA 3-0 [20] ZIMBABWE
Jeremías Azaña bt Luke Mannion 11-8, 11-6, 11-4
Juan Barreyro bt Callum Lawton 11-9, 11-8, 11-2
Matías Kupferberg bt Nicholas Joughin 11-4, 7-11, 11-5, 11-3

[15] GERMANY 2-1 [18] ARGENTINA
Robin Ebert bt Jeremías Azaña 5-11, 11-3, 11-9, 12-10
Sean Redmen lost to Juan Barreyro 6-11, 5-11, 7-11
Loïc Hennard bt Matías Kupferberg 11-8, 12-10, 13-11

[13] GUATEMALA 2-1 [20] ZIMBABWE
Ricardo Toscano bt Nicholas Joughin 11-2, 11-8, 12-10
Junior Enríquez Franco bt Luke Mannion 7-11, 11-5, 11-9, 11-7
Roberto Urruela Bowen lost to Ethan Alfalfa Porter 4-11, 11-9, 5-11, 11-3, 9-11

Draw

Semi-Final

[1] EGYPT v [5] ENGLAND
[2] PAKISTAN v [6] USA

5th – 8th place play-offs:

[4] INDIA v [9] NEW ZEALAND
[3] FRANCE v [10] AUSTRALIA