Egypt wins Squash World Cup title

Expectedly and deservedly, Egypt, the top seed, bagged the SDAT-WSF Squash World Cup at the Express Avenue Mall on Saturday, with a thumping 2-1 (4-1 on points) win over Malaysia, seeded fourth, in the final. Egypt won the World Cup when it was last held here in 2011.

Malaysia was brimming with confidence especially after the upset victory over host India the other day, but the defending champion came roaring back after losing the first match to win the remaining two.

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The first tie went in favour of Malaysia with the left-hander Xin Ying Yee, ranked 79 in the world, putting it across Kenzy Ayman, ranked 56, in three straight games.

With a huge backswing, the Malaysian generated a lot of power and speed in her strokes and at times, was cunning with her delicate drops and double boast. Kenzy found it difficult to read Yee’s game properly.

With a match down, it was left to the top seed Aly Abou El Einen to level things and he delivered in style, defeating an energetic Darren Pragasam in three straight games. After a sensational match against India’s Saurav Ghosal on Friday, much was expected from the Malaysian, but Abou played a notch higher. There were a few points from Darren, especially his backhand drops from the backcourt backed by his impressive court-craft. Abou, however, remained largely in control of the rallies. 

The turning point for Egypt emerged in the second game. At 6-6, Darren hit what looked like a clean backhand down-the-line winner. Abou fell claiming that he was inadvertently hit on the face by Darren’s racquet. The Egyptian took an injury time-out and returned to win the second and third game, the match and the tie.

The lone hope for Malaysia was the 18-year-old Aira Azman, who took on Fayrouz Abouelkheir in the third match. Surprisingly, she looked deflated and not motivated enough especially in the first two games. She fought hard to win the third game, but Fayrouz appeared determined to close out the the match.

Mohamed Elkeiy, Egyptian coach said the key was the team’s meticulous planning and execution. “We beat them 3-1 in the group match. We knew it was going to be a fight. We were ready to win some matches that we lost earlier,” he said.