The 2015 WSF Men's
World Team Squash Championship, which was due to take place
later this month in the Egyptian capital Cairo, has been
postponed.
The Egyptian
Squash Federation, hosts of the World Squash Federation
event, informed the WSF today of the decision which was taken
due to earlier team withdrawals and concerns of others about
security.
"We request this
postponement with a heavy heart as Cairo is a safe city,"
said the Egyptian Federation President Assem Khalifa.
"All arrangements for the holding of
the event are in place, including full government support to
ensure protection as would be afforded to visiting VIPS, and so
there is no reason for the championship not to proceed.
"However we are
mindful that some teams did not wish to attend the championship
for their own reasons and wish to end any uncertainty for other
nations in a positive way by postponing until a later date. It
pains us to do so as there is no reason for this and many teams
have incurred costs, but it is something we must do to be fair
to all."
WSF President N
Ramachandran responded: "It is
distressing that this event in the wonderful city of Cairo is
being postponed. We can only thank the Egyptian Federation again
for stepping in to take it on at short notice after the Kuwait
NOC suspension by IOC required us to relocate.
"We will liaise
with all member nations after we have taken stock of the
position. For now we accept the decision of our esteemed
Egyptian partners and express our disappointment to them and the
many nations that were in expectation of what would have been a
superb championship."
The WSF Referee
Conference which was due to precede the championship is
similarly postponed.
Hosts
Egypt Seeded To Reclaim Men's World Team Title
Hosts Egypt
are expected to reclaim the WSF Men's World Team Squash
Championship title in Cairo in December according to
the seedings announced today by the World Squash Federation.
15 of the top 20
players in the world will compete in the 25th biennial
championship which will take place at the Al Ahly Club in
the Egyptian capital from 12-18 December.
Egypt boast a
formidable four-man squad led by world No.1 Mohamed
Elshorbagy and including three further players from within
the world top 12: third-placed Ramy Ashour, No.6 Omar
Mosaad and No.12 Tarek Momen. But the favourites are
sweating on the recovery of Ashour who is missing the current
Hong Kong Open due to the recurrence of a hamstring injury.
Competing in their
third successive final in the 2013 championship in France, Egypt
went down 2/1 to England - who lifted the trophy for the
fifth time since 1995. The defending champions - the 2015
event's second seeds - will be led by world No.2 Nick Matthew,
supported by Daryl Selby (world No.16), event debutant
Chris Simpson (No.23) and James Willstrop, the world
No.24 who defeated the top-ranked Elshorbagy in the recent PSA
World Championship.
France,
runners-up in 2003 and 2009, are seeded three and will be led by
the newly-crowned world individual champion Gregory Gaultier.
Record eight-time champions Australia are the fourth
seeds.
The full list of
participating nations, in seeding order, is:
[1] Egypt, [2] England, [3] France, [4] Australia, [5] Hong Kong
China, [6] Germany, [7] India, [8] Scotland, [9] South Africa,
[10] New Zealand, [11] Mexico, [12] Pakistan, [13] Malaysia,
[14] USA, [15] Switzerland, [16] Finland, [17] Canada, [18]
Argentina, [19] Colombia, [20] Austria, [21] Qatar, [22]
Republic of Korea, [23] Iraq.
Pool line-ups:
Pool A: [1] Egypt, [12] Pakistan, [14] USA
Pool B: [2] England, [11] Mexico, [13] Malaysia, [23] Iraq
Pool C: [3] France, [10] New Zealand, [15] Switzerland, [22]
Republic of Korea,
Pool D: [4] Australia, [9] South Africa, [18] Argentina, [20]
Austria
Pool E: [5] Hong Kong China, [8] Scotland, [17] Canada, [19]
Colombia
Pool F:
World
Team Championship Line-Ups - & Kiwis Competing - Confirmed
15 of
the top 20 players in the world will compete in the 2015 WSF
Men's World Team Squash Championship in Egypt next
month.
Initial squads for the 25th biennial World Squash Federation
championship, which will take place at the Al Ahly Club
in Cairo from 12-18 December, have been confirmed today -
as has the participation of New Zealand, after earlier
withdrawing from the Championship. The seedings for the
Championship are due to be released on 30 November, while final
squad orders are submitted on the eve of the event.
Defending champions England (pictured above after
winning the 2013 title) will be led by world No.2 Nick
Matthew, supported by Daryl Selby (world No.16),
James Willstrop (No.24) and event debutant Chris Simpson
(No.23).
Hosts
Egypt, however, boast a formidable four-man squad
comprising players from within the world top 12 - featuring
world No.1 Mohamed Elshorbagy, No.3 Ramy Ashour,
No.6 Omar Mosaad and No.12 Tarek Momen.
Former
champions Australia will present a line-up including two
world top 20 players - Cameron Pilley (19) and Ryan
Cuskelly (20) - while twice runners-up France have a
line-up including two world top ten players, Gregory Gaultier
(3) and Mathieu Castagnet (8).
Kuwait
have withdrawn from the event following the suspension of their
National Olympic Committee by the IOC as the opportunity to
compete under the WSF flag was declined.
The
full list of participating nations is: Argentina, Australia,
Austria, Canada, Colombia, Egypt, England, Finland, France,
Germany, Hong Kong China, India, Iraq, Republic of Korea,
Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Pakistan, Qatar, Scotland, South
Africa, Switzerland and USA.
Team squads:
ARGENTINA 1 Robertino Pezzota, 2 Leandro Romiglio,
3 Rodrigo Pezzota, 4 Gonzalo Miranda
AUSTRALIA 1 Ryan Cuskelly, 2 Cameron Pilley, 3
Rex Hedrick, 4 Steven Finitsis
AUSTRIA 1 Aqeel Rehman, 2 Jakob Dirnberger, 3
Florian Mader, 4 Daniel Haider
CANADA 1 Shawn Delierre, 2 Nicholas Sachvie, 3
Michael McCue, 4 Albert Shoihet
COLOMBIA 1 Miguel Angel Rodriguez, 2 Andrés Herrera,
3 Erick Herrera, 4 Edgar Ramirez
EGYPT 1 Mohamed Elshorbagy, 2 Ramy Ashour, 3
Omar Mosaad, 4 Tarek Momen
ENGLAND 1 Nick Matthew, 2 Daryl Selby, 3 Chris
Simpson, 4 James Willstrop
FINLAND 1 Olli Tuominen, 2 Henrik Mustonen, 3
Jaakko Vahamaa, 4 Miko Äijänen
FRANCE 1 Gregory Gaultier, 2 Mathieu Castagnet, 3
Gregoire Marche, 4 Lucas Serme
GERMANY 1 Simon Rösner, 2 Raphael Kandra, 3
Jens Schoor, 4 Rudi Rohrmuller
HONG KONG CHINA 1 Max Lee, 2 Leo Au, 3 Tsz Fung
Yip, 4 Chi Him Wong
INDIA 1 Saurav Ghosal, 2 Mahesh Mangaonkar, 3
Harinder Pal Singh Sandhu, 4 Kush Kumar
IRAQ 1 Rassol Alsultani, 2 Mohammed Hasan, 3
Husham Abdulkareem Sabeh, 4 Faisal Assim
MALAYSIA 1 Nafiizwan Adnan, 2 Ivan Yuen, 3
Sanjay Singh Chal, 4 Mohd Syafiq Kamal
MEXICO 1 Cesar Salazar, 2 Arturo Salazar, 3
Eric Galvez, 4 Alfredo Avila
NEW ZEALAND 1 Paul Coll, 2 Campbell Grayson, 3
Martin Knight, 4 Evan Williams
PAKISTAN 1 Nasir Iqbal, 2 Farhan Zaman, 3
Danish Atlas Khan, 4 Tayyab Aslam
QATAR 1 Abdulla Mohd Al Tamimi, 2 Syed Azlan Amjad,
3 Abdulrahman Al-Malki, 4 Abdulwahab Al-Ishaq
REPUBLIC OF KOREA 1 JaeJin Yoo, 2 Ko Youngjo, 3
Jong Myoung Park, 4 Han Dong Ryu
SCOTLAND 1 Alan Clyne, 2 Greg Lobban, 3 Douglas
Kempsell, 4 Kevin Moran
SOUTH AFRICA 1 Stephen Coppinger, 2 Shaun le Roux,
3 Clinton Leeuw, 4 Thoboki Mohohlo
SWITZERLAND 1 Nicolas Müller, 2 Reiko Peter, 3
Benjamin Fischer, 4 Patrick Miescher
USA 1 Christopher
