Egypt are the World Champions
Hot favourites Egypt, whose three-woman team boasts the top three players in the world, beat defending champions England in today’s final of the WSF Women’s World Team Squash Championship in the French capital Paris to reclaim the World Squash Federation title they lost to their opponents in 2014.
But it was second seeds England who took the lead on the all-glass court at Palais Des Sports Robert Charpentier in the Paris suburb of Issy-les-Moulineaux where Laura Massaro, the world No.4, recovered from a game down to inflict the event’s first defeat on Nour El Sherbini, the world No.1
Former world champion Massaro, who went into the match 5/3 ahead in her career head-to-head battles with the Egyptian, won 11-9, 5-11, 6-11, 6-11 in 49 minutes to put England ahead.
The lead was short-lived, however, as Egyptian number two Nouran Gohar, the 19-year-old world No.3 making her debut in the championship, despatched England’s experienced Alison Waters 11-6, 11-4, 12-10 to force a decider. Londoner Waters had a game ball in the third, but three successive balls into the tin handed victory to the Cairo teenager.
Squad number threes lined up for the decider – England’s Sarah-Jane Perry, the world No.11 who had played in all England’s ties in Paris, facing Raneem El Welily, the former world number one now ranked two in the world.
It took 31 minutes for the title to be decided – El Welily keeping on top throughout the match before emerging victorious 12-10, 11-4, 11-6.
“I have never played a decider for Egypt before and I was hoping I wouldn’t have to,” admitted the jubilant El Welily minutes later. “I didn’t know what to expect.
“But I decided to be selfish – I didn’t think of the team, only of myself, to stop the pressure getting to me. This was the tactic I planned – even if everything went wrong. I had to do a lot of running, but it worked out in the end.
“Overall, this is a fantastic team to be a part of!”
Egyptian national coach Amr Shabana anticipated the way the tie started: “Laura came out strong, as expected. She didn’t give away any cheap points. Her fighting spirit won the crucial points.
“Nouran proved why she is number three in the world and Raneem showed her amazing athleticism and her amazing technical prowess.
“I can sum up my feeling in two words: Mission accomplished!”
England national coach David Campion admitted: “Egypt were just too strong. Raneem and Nouran played at their best levels – but they needed to as our girls performed well.
“Gohar was relentless and Raneem played fantastic squash.”
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