Egypt has won their third consecutive WSF Men’s World
Squash Team Championship after a thrilling contest with England in the final in
Tauranga. That win for Egypt, a high-quality affair clinched by World No.4
Mostafa Asal and World No.1 Ali Farag, was also their third consecutive victory
over England in a final, and the fifth final in a row to feature two of the
modern game’s great rivals.
Going into his match with World No.8 Marwan el-Shorbagy, questions had been raised about the fitness of 22-year-old Asal, with the former World No.1 a surprise omission from the semi-final victory over Switzerland.
Egypt has won their third consecutive WSF Men’s World Squash Team Championship after a thrilling contest with England in the final in Tauranga. Though, those questions were firmly answered by a brilliantly controlled performance from Asal.
In a competitive and thoroughly entertaining contest, ‘The Raging Bull’ proved too strong for El-Shorbagy, who despite putting in an excellent performance could not match the pace, power and accuracy of an inspired Asal, with the Egyptian clinching a trio of 11-9 wins to take the match 3-0 in 49 minutes.
This left Marwan’s brother, Mohamed, needing a win over old rival and World No.1 Ali Farag to keep England in the tie. In a pulsating battle, the 30th between the two since the 2010 British Junior Open, the Beast’ took the lead with a hard-fought 11-8 win.
Farag responded with a dominant 11-2 victory in game two, only for the resurgent El-Shorbagy to regain the lead when he took a fiercely contested third game 11-7. Farag, winner of six of the last seven contests between the two, came back once again in a stop-start fourth game to force El-Shorbagy into a fifth game.
In a tense battle, which neither man deserved to lose, it was Farag who was able to maintain his concentration, with the 31-year-old controlling the court masterfully as he got his side over the line with an 11-7 win to close out a classic 70-minute encounter.
After his team were presented with their medals by WSF Vice President and four-time World Champion Dame Susan Devoy and 1986 World Champion Ross Norman, Egypt coach Hesham el-Attar said: “It’s absolutely amazing! There was a lot of tension; I know it was slightly expected that we had to deliver, but we wanted it badly.
Source: State Information Service
