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World Junior Men's Championships 2002
03-14 December, Chennai, India

 2004 Event, Pakistan

Official site from Chennai        

WILLSTROP WORLD CHAMPION
Reports & Results from the Individuals

Team Event - Knockout Stage

Quarters
Fri 13th
Semis
Fri 13th
Final
Sat 14th

[1] England  2
 [5] India  1

[1] England  2
James Willstrop bt Moustafa Essam 9-1, 9-4, 9-4; Ashley Flathers bt Sherif Kamal 9-6, 9-1, 5-9, 5-9, 10-9; Peter Barker lost to Ahmed Mohsen Hassan 8-9, 3-9, 0-9
[4] Egypt  1

[1] England  1

 Khayal Mohammed lost James Willstrop 2-9 0-9 1-9 25m; Majid Khan beat Peter Barker 9-2 9-3 9-7 31m; Khalid Atlas beat John Harford 9-4, 9-7, 9-5 45m

[2] Pakistan  2

[4] Egypt  3
[9] Canada  0
[3] Australia  3
[10] USA  0
[3] Australia  1
Khayal Muhammad bt Jhie Gough 9-2, 9-3, 9-3; Safeerullah Khan lost to Luke Margan 9-10, 9-6, 8-10, 9-4, 7-9; Majid Khan bt Aaron Frankcomb 9-0, 9-7, 9-0
[2] Pakistan  3
[2] Pakistan  3
[6] Mexico  0

TEAM Draws and Results from Chennai

PAKISTAN STUN ENGLAND
TO TAKE TEAM TITLE

Pakistan defeated top seeds and defending champions England 2-1 in a thrilling team final in Chennai.
George Meiras reports
...

James Willstrop recaptured individual event form and quickly saw off Muhammed for only 3 points. What word better than awesome? "Quite amazing that he could recapture and even exceed such form so soon", said Malcolm Willstrop.

Jon Harford started very slowly against Khalid Atlas at 3, moving very tentatively - he had a strapped right thigh which had clearly been causing some concern. But the slow start saw Khan win the first quite easily 9-4.

Harford improved a lot in the second, working his opponent round the
court better an reached 7-4 before making some crucial mistakes. An amazing long drop at 7 all took Khalid to game ball and soon to 9-7. There was no way back for a now thoroughly dispirited Harford, with Atlas's confidence growing and some Willstrop standard attacking shots emerging. 9-5 in the 3rd. David Campion : "John's leg was not a contributory problem," said England coach David Campion. "He was just too tense and made mistakes at vital points."

So it was up to Peter Barker against Majid Khan. Barker also started very slowly and Khan easily dominated the first game. Barker seemed to be feeling his way back into a tough match. Losing the fist so easily was a disaster for Barker, however, as it gave Khan huge confidence and he even stopped looking as though he was about to burst into tears at every decision and started to play through much more often, to his absolute advantage. It was Barker who got increasingly irritable and at the end of the second he was lucky not to have at least a conduct warning for pushing his opponent in frustration at the end of the game. 9-3 and 0-2. The 3rd game was much tighter and Barker fought well but Khan was now inspired and unstoppable, playing some delightful attacking shots. Barker got to 7-6 but another 2 winners followed. Barker saved the first match ball, then a lucky shot saw Khan get another and this time he sealed it.

Pandemonium ensued as all the Pakistan camp surged onto court. WSF President Jahangir Khan handed over the medals and trophy to an ecstatic Pakistan and very sombre England.

Egypt were 3rd in a seedings reverse when they beet Australia 2-1 in a very tight earlier match and hosts India finished a marvellous 5th.

World Junior Men's Championships 2002  
Main draw from Chennai   

Third Round
Thu 5th
Fourth Round
Fri 6th
Quarters
Sat 7th
Semis
Sun 8th 
Final
Mon 9th
[1] James Willstrop (Eng)
9-2, 9-2, 9-2  (14m)
Sherif Moustafa Kamal (Egy)
James Willstrop
9-6, 9-3, 9-0  (27m)
Shah Nawaz
James Willstrop

9-0, 9-1, 9-1  (20m)

Safeerullah Khan

James Willstrop

 

9-1, 9-0, 9-4 (27m)

 

Khayal Muhammad


Willstrop

 

 

 

 

9/0, 9/3, 9/1 (28m)

 

 


Barker

[9/16] Timothy Arnold (Mas)
9-3, 9-4, 9-6 (45m)
Shah Nawaz (Pak)
[5/8] Dylan Bennett (Ned)
7-9, 9-3, 9-5, 0-9, 9-3 (55m)
Omar Abdel Aziz (Egy)
Dylan Bennett
9-6, 9-7, 9-3  (39m)
Safeerullah Khan
[9/16] Safeerullah Khan (Pak)
10-8, 9-0, 9-1 (35m)
James Rogers (Aus)
[3] Moustafa Essam (Egy)
6-9, 5-9, 9-6, 9-0, 9-4 (59m)
Julian Illingworth (Usa)
Julian Illingworth
9-3, 9-3, 9-5 (53m)
Khayal Muhammad
Khayal Muhammad

9-6, 9-7, 9-3 (64m)

Eric Galvez
[9/16] Khayal Muhammad (Pak)
9-3, 9-4, 9-4 (31m)
Jose A Becerril (Mex)
[5/8] Eric Galvez (Mex)
9-4, 9-2, 9-5 (39m)
Laurence Delasaux (Eng)
Eric Galvez
9-1, 9-2, 9-0 (34m)
Aaron Frankcomb
[9/16] Aaron Frankcomb (Aus)
9-6, 9-6, 9-2 (52m)
Mamoud Mohamed Adel (Egy)
[9/16] Ashley Flathers (Eng)
9-7, 9-6, 9-7 (47m)
Bader Husaini (Kuw)
Bader Husaini
9-2, 10-9, 9-3 (46m)
Jhie Gough

Jhie Gough

9-4, 9-2, 9-4  (43m)

Majid Khan

Majid Khan

 

 9-3, 9-0, 10-8 (56m)

 

 Peter Barker

[5/8] Jhie Gough (Aus)
9-1, 9-3, 9-3 (26m)
Mark Krajesak (Hun)
[9/16] Amr Ramzy Swelam (Egy)
9-6, 9-1, 9-0 (28m)
Jon Harford (Eng)
Jon Harford
7-9, 9-1, 9-0 ret. (35m)
Majid Khan
[4] Majid Khan (Pak)
9-3, 9-5, 9-6 (31m)
Lewis Powel Horst (Wal)
[9/16] Marco Datwyler (Sui)
6-9, 9-4, 9-7, 0-9, 9-2 (85m)
Khalid Atlas (Pak)
Khalid Atlas
2-9, 9-7, 7-9, 10-8, 9-5 (73m)
Luke Margan
Khalid Atlas
 

9-2, 9-0, 9-3  (33m)

 Peter Barker

[5/8] Ahmed Mohsen Hassan (Egy)
4-9, 6-9, 9-3, 9-1, 10-8 (63m)
Luke Margan (Aus)
Siddarth Suchde (Ind)
9-3, 9-0, 9-0 (14m)
Peter David Creed (Wal)
Siddarth Suchde
9-4, 9-4, 9-1 (49m)
 Peter Barker
[2] Peter Barker (Eng)
9-0, 9-1, 9-0 (17m)
Dick Lau (Hkg)
RESULTS & Reports

WILLSTROP WORLD CHAMPION

Final:  James Willstrop bt Peter Barker 9/0, 9/3, 9/1 (28m)

Amazing!
George Meiras reports from Chennai
James Willstrop stormed to the World Junior Men's title in Chennai today treating team-mate and friend Peter Barker with the same ruthlessness as all opponents in previous rounds. 9/0;9/3/9/1 in 28 minutes. These two may have had some close encounters in recent years but in the one that really mattered Willstrop was taking no prisoners. Barker was left totally frustrated, chasing down whatever he could but chasing was the word, and if you are sent the wrong way it gets even more impossible. What a performance.

You just had to feel sorry for his opponent. Just how important this title was to James showed in his shout of triumph at the winning point, hand aloft, safety specs chucked out into the crowd.

The audience had enjoyed a colourful opening ceremony with all teams marching in and flag bearers going onto court and all meeting WSF President Jahangir Khan. The WSF trophy and medals were presented at the end plus for the champion a magnificent solid silver (1kg) squash racket in a case presented by the Squash Rackets Federation of India. James spoke well, making all the right thank you's, then paid generous tribute to his opponent, all the England camp but most of all, and so rightly, to Malcolm, his Dad.

A very happy afternoon and successful end to the Individual event in this 12th Junior Men's World Championships.

Semi-Finals  
Semi-finals: 
[1] James Willstrop (ENG) bt [9/16] Khayal Muhammad (PAK) 9-1, 9-0, 9-4 (27m) 
[2] Peter Barker (ENG) bt [4] Majid Khan (PAK) 9-3, 9-0, 10-8 (56m) 

Yorkshire's Willstrop & Barker In
English  World Junior Showdown

James Willstrop and Essex's Peter Barker will meet in the final of the Men's World Junior Individual Squash Championship in India in the all-English showdown predicted by the seedings. Both players dismissed Pakistani opposition in today's (Sunday) semi-finals at the Tamil Nadu Squash Academy in Chennai and both have reached the climax without conceding a game. 

Top seed Willstrop, the British and European Junior Champion from Pontefract, was again in awesome form against Pakistan's No1 junior Khayal Muhammad, taking just 27 minutes to earn his 9-1 9-0 9-4 victory and a long-awaited place in the final. The match was marred by 32 appeals - the majority of which were judged to be 'no let' - but significantly only one came from the Englishman! 

Uncharacteristically, however, this twice got the better of the normally excellent-tempered Willstrop, who on the second occasion received a conduct warning during the third game - which resulted in the England manager David Campion rushing to open the court door to urge his half-brother to calm down! In the other semi-final, Peter Barker played in a totally disciplined manner to avoid any confrontations. 

Sadly, however, his opponent Majid Khan seemed determined again to involve the referee at all costs - to his complete detriment as top referee Chris Sinclair, like Muneer Shah in the first match, simply would not give the endless lets requested. By the third game, with Barker 2-0 up, the Pakistani at last seemed to realise and got on with playing the ball and rallying - with the result that he reached game ball at 8-6 with some fine play. 

An error, then a lapse back to earlier appeal-mode, saw his chance slip away and Barker win the game and the match 9-3 9-0 10-8 in 56 minutes. 

Both finalists were upbeat afterwards. "I'm feeling very focussed and in great shape - looking forward to another meeting with Peter tomorrow," said favourite Willstrop. "We know each other's game really well and have a great deal of respect for each other," conceded James, who beat Barker in both the British and European Junior finals - indeed, has never lost to his England team-mate. 

Barker added: "I am delighted with the way I have played through to the final, with tough matches against two Pakistanis Khalid Atlas and Majid Khan in the last two rounds. I always look forward to playing James, and if I can play as well as I did against him in the European final in France in March, I think I have a good chance."

Quarter-Finals  
It's England v Pakistan in the semis ...
George Meiras reports from Chennai
The quarter-finals saw the two top seeded Englishmen dispose comfortably of 2 Pakistanis leading to a repeat matching in both semi-finals tomorrow.

James Willstrop was almost awesome at points in a quite ruthless demolition of Safeerulah Khan - 9/1,9/0,9/1 in only 20 minutes. Willstrop's variety of pace, shot, disguise, the time he seems to be able to make for himself before hitting the ball all led to almost total Pakistani collapse of morale by half-way through the first game - you just had to feel sorry for Khan facing the no 1 seed in this form.

The crowd's favourite came next, Mexico's Eric Galvez. He is so exciting to watch with some brilliant shots, especially long distance drop returns of serve, elastic in movement and tries to get to absolutely everything. A considerable amount of time indeed seemed to be spent on the floor of the court compared to all other matches as he hurled himself body length in desperate efforts to retrieve the ball. A tense first game saw Khayal Muhammed win the first 9-6 then a very impressive recovery from 0-7 down in the second by Muhammed, admirably patient, sapped the Mexican resolve and the third was inevitable. 64 minutes of good crowd pleasing entertainment, however, by far the best match of the afternoon.

Jhie Gough of Australia is a rugged, stocky hard hitting Aussie, sometimes a bit of a smouldering volcano one feels, but all the aggression was simply not enough to get the better of the speedier and more elastic Majid Khan. A fairly one-sided match went Pakistan's way in 43 minutes.

The final match saw Peter Barker also in fairly ruthless form against Khalid Atlas but unable to seal the issue quite as quickly as James! His power and consistency were just too much for Atlas and a total of 5 points was all he managed to garner in 33 minutes of hard effort.

So the semi-finals see for the first time ever 2 English against 2 Pakistanis - let's hope for good matches for the live TV coverage.
Early Rounds  

England's Top Seeds Untroubled
George Meiras reports on round four

Play in round 4 of the WSF World Junior Men's moved to the splend1d ASB central court in the Tamil Nadu Squash Academy  building today.

England's top 2 seeds both went through relatively untroubled - James  Willstrop started a bit slowly against Shah Nawaz  but once he had secured the first game 9-6 he stepped up into full attack mode and swept through the  next 2 games with ease. At the other end of the draw Peter Barker was last on court against the only remaining  home player, the talented Siddharth Suchde. As ever with Barker it looked like man against boy but Suchde was not to be intimidated by odd glowers and with  great encouragement from the home crowd all made  Barker concentrate and work all the way.

Pakistan then had Khayal Muhammad taking on USA no 1 Julian Illingworth, and although it took nearly an hour the American's run was brought to an end also 0-3.

Everyone is wondering just how good Eric Galvez (Mexico) is - well, el bandito showed just how good by demolishing Oz no 1 Aaron Francombe 3-0 in only 43 minutes, very comprehensive at this stage. Galvez is full of flair and imagination, fast around and very exciting to watch. The top seeds will have to be very wary of him.

Kuwait's Bader Hussaini's good run came to a fairly quick end at the racket hand of Jhie Gough from Australia, but that was Australia's only player to progress as Luke Margan lost a long, very physical match against Khalid Atlas (Pakistan) - not at all pretty to watch and  perhaps squandered by the Australian boy who seemed at critical points when leading to lapse into defensive mode, not good tactics.

Pakistan also had Majid Khan facing Jon Harford (England), having a great run, and here there was a very sad end when Harford, having lost the first 7/9, won the next 2 games comprehensively 9/1, 9/0 but then had to concede with a hamstring injury.

So Pakistan take all 4 players through into the quarter finals to be joined by the two top seeded Englishmen, a Mexican and an Australian. Some good squash ahead
...

Disaster for Egypt day
George Meiras reports on the Third Round
The 3rd round saw the elimination of al the Egyptian players, a major  surprise as Egypt in the initial seedings have been placed 2. Inevitably Sherif Kamal was swept aside by James Willstrop and Arron Frankland (Australia) held off a spirited challenge from Mamoud Adel,  but in a major upset unseeded Julian Illingworth (USA) came back from 0-2 to fairly comprehensively defeat a tiring 3rd seed Mustafa Essam, a huge win for the USA lad. There are rumours that Essam has a back problem and certainly the referee had to apply a lot of pressure including a conduct stroke to ensure that there was not undue delay between points. 

The unexpected continued with Jon Hartford (England) ripping through  9/16 seed Amr Swelam. That left Omar Aziz who cheered Egyptian spirits with a great fight against Dylan Bennet (Netherlands), causing more heartache for the Dutch camp in another 5-setter. This was a pretty physical encounter, not pretty to watch, but eventually Bennett triumphed and Egypt were finished in the main draw.

England had mixed fortunes - Willstrop and Barker hardly exerted themselves, Hartford had that excellent win but  there was a big shock when 9/16 Ashley Flathers was beaten 3-0 by surprise package of the tournament so far, Bader Hussaini of Kuwait. Laurence Delasaux  losing to talented Eric Galvez of Mexico was not unexpected, however.

Home interest was maintained with no Siddharth Suchde easily moving forward at the expense of Welsh no 3 Peter Creed. Pakistan on the other hand had a splendid day with 5 players reaching the last 16. Best wins were Shah Nawaz beating 9/16 seed Timothy Arnold (Malaysia) and in the longest match of the day by far (85 minutes) Khallid Atlas beat 9/16 seed Marco Datwyler of Switzerland. Australia also had a good day with 3 players progressing relatively easily.

So the last 16 features 5 from Pakistan, 3 from England, 3 from Australia, 1 Mexican, I  Ntherlands and 1 Kuwaiti and 1 Home player.

INDIANS SO CLOSE TO UPSETS
George Meiras reports on Round One
Major (ret'd) Maniam of SRFI was desperately close to having two home crowd pleasing shock results in main draw round 1, but sadly for him he emerged the sad man as both of his players lost 8-10 in the 5th, after having had match balls. Gurav Nandrajog took Pakistani player Shaw Nawaz to five in one of the first matches of the morning then one of the smallest players in the event, 16 year old Saurav Ghosal, stretched 6 feet plus 5/8 seed Dylan Bennett of The Netherlands to the very limit on centre court.

The 2 players are good friends - Gaurav stayed and trained with Dylan and his coach for 10 days during the summer but had to put aside all thoughts of friendship and reach for all of his professional player reserves to hold off the little terrier chasing down everything, through him, round him, under him! Saurav got 2-1 up, from 0-7 in the 4th recovered to 6-7 before a highly relieved Bennet secured the game 9-7. Saurav played his heart out in the 5th to reach 8-3 but gradually Dylan clawed it back, Saurav made some real pressure of  situation errors and failed to close on any of three match points. What a great game, and watch out for this youngster 2 years from now.

No major upsets, therefore, and steady progress for all the seeded players otherwise. Mark Krajesak of Hungary, who has come over alone, progressed through at the expense of USA's Christopher Gordon and showed that he is a player to be reckoned with. Pakistan have a sad situation with Arshad Burki, seeded 9-16, having to withdraw from the tournament today before his first match as a result of his Mother becoming seriously ill.

PREVIEW  

Willstrop on Chennai
Malcolm Willstrop with protegee Lee Beachill
The World Junior Championships, originally scheduled for July but postponed for political reasons, are now to be played in Chennai, in India in December, writes Malcolm Willstrop.

Players eligible on the original date remain eligible, which seems fair considering that the championship is biennial.

The outstanding semi-finalists in Milan in 2000 ­ Karim Darwish, Gregory Gaultier, Shahid Zaman and James Willstrop ­ have all made massive inroads in men's world squash: Darwish is at an all-time world ranking high of 13, Gaultier won the French Open, Willstrop the Swiss Open and Zaman did excellently in Qatar 2001.

The Englishman is the only one still eligible and, having won the British Open Junior and European Junior titles, he is the man to beat. Peter Barker, the no.2 Englishman, was runner-up to Willstrop in the Open, Closed and Europeans and in Sheffield he beat Yassar El Halabi (Egypt) convincingly.

The Egyptian is a three-time winner of British Opens, so has a pedigree, but it remains to be seen if he has improved enough to win the World Championship.

James Willstrop wins the British Junior Open ...Mexican Eric Galvez was in Milan and he has certainly improved. He showed well in the PSA's Brazilian and Columbian Opens. Athletic and entertaining, hešll be a main challenger.

Majid Khan was a semi-finalist in the British Open when the Pakistanis suddenly turned up with a fistful of contenders to suggest a new impetus in Pakistan.

It is hard to imagine some unknown turning up and winning, but there will always be one or two players, previously lesser known, who respond to world class opposition.

England  have won the last three World U19 Team Championships: in Cairo (Beachill, Russell, Grant); in Princeton (Mathew, Grant, Jemmett) and in Milan (Willstrop, Phil Barker and Selby), all against the odds. Beachill beat World Junior Champion Ahmed Faizy to win in Cairo; and after Willstrop had a match ball against Darwish, Barker came from 2-0 down to win in Milan.

With Willstrop and Barker and good enough support players, England are favourites this time. Australia have not been a potent team force for a while and Egypt and Pakistan are likely to provide the stiffest opposition.

It is absolutely crucial that the Championship goes ahead this time. If it is postponed for another year it could well be lost for ever.

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