Top seven seeds safely through as Malaysia oust India …
The second day of Pool play at the Men’s World Teams in Marseille saw the top seven seeds safely through to the knockout stage as they all recorded second wins to finish top of Pools A to G. The only upset came as 9th seeds Malaysia beat 8th seeded India to put themselves in pole position in Pool H.
In the opening set of matches it was defending champions England who set the pace, a full set of 3-0 wins seeing off Finland and booking their place at the bottom of the knockout draw. New Zealand also made it two out of two, although USA threatened an upset as the levelled them match, but Campbell Grayson saw the Kiwis home.
Seeded #8 and #9, India v Malaysia looked the closest match of the day, and so it proved. Nafiizwan Adnan put the Malaysians ahead, coming from 6-9 down in the fifth in the top string, Mahesh Mangaonkar levelled for India, but then Eain Yow Ng came from 1-2 down to give Malaysia the win and, should they beat Austria tomorrow, top place in Pool F.
In the second set of matches top seeds Egypt and booked their place at the top of the draw as they dismissed Switzerland, while Germany got the better of Scotland in a repeat of their recent European Team 3rd/4th battles and Australia secured top spot in Pool D as they beat Wales, although the Brits both offered strong challenges that will give them heart going into tomorrow’s crunch Pool matches.
In the evening session France quickly wrapped up Pool C as they eased to victory over Canada, while Hong Kong capitalised on a good start against Spain with Max Lee beating Borja Golan in the top string to reach their allotted place in the playoffs.
[button color=”blue” size=”medium” link=”https://mwtsquash.tumblr.com/post/168005109435″ icon=”” target=”true”]What they Said – Day TWO[/button] [box type=”info”]
Pool A: [1] Egypt 3-0 Switzerland
Pool B: [2] England 3-0 Finland
Pool C: [3] France 3-0 Canada
Pool D: [4] Australia 3-0 Wales
Pool E: [5] Hong Kong 3-0 Spain
Pool F: [6] New Zealand 2-1 USA
Pool G: [7] Germany 2-1 Scotland
Pool H: [8] India 1-2 Malaysia
[button color=”blue” size=”big” link=”http://worldteamsquash.com/draws-results/” icon=”” target=”false”]FULL DRAWS & RESULTS[/button]
