Hosts USA will face top seeds and title-holders Egypt in a dream opening tie in the WSF Men’s World Team Squash Champs.
Formerly the 13th seeds, USA have been elevated to 12th seeds and moved into the Pool A group following an 11th-hour revision of the seedings caused by the late withdrawal of Switzerland’s world No.30 Nicolas Müller. The Swiss No.1 sadly had to return home following the death of his mother.
The weakened Switzerland team has been re-seeded at 15, raising USA to 12, Colombia to 13 and Canada to 14. All other seedings remain the same.
“It’s a Sunday, so more people can come, so for us it’s great – a good strong match to get us into the competition,” said US coach Thierry Lincou on hearing the news.
“And now we have our eyes on that other match that could qualify us for the play-offs. It’s lucky for us – originally we would have had to beat Malaysia, seeded above us, and Korea, to get into the play-offs. Now it looks like it’s more do-able.
“We want to make sure that everyone is healthy and ready for the week ahead,” added the former world No.1.
Today’s revised pool line-ups, including team seedings in brackets, are:
POOL A: [1] Egypt, [12] USA, [15] Switzerland
POOL B: [2] England, [11] Wales, [14] Canada, [23] Nigeria
POOL C: [3] France, [10] Malaysia, [13] Colombia, [22] Republic of Korea
POOL D: [4] New Zealand, [9] Scotland, [18] Ireland, [20] Singapore
POOL E: [5] Germany, [8] Spain, [16] Argentina, [19] South Africa
POOL F: [6] Hong Kong China, [7] Australia, [17] Jamaica, [21] Kuwait
The full new Pool schedule is as follows:
SUNDAY 15 December:
12:00 Egypt v USA, New Zealand v Ireland, Scotland v Singapore
15:00 France v Colombia, Spain v South Africa, Germany v Argentina, Malaysia v Republic of Korea
18:30 England v Canada, Hong Kong v Jamaica, Wales v Nigeria, Australia v Kuwait
MONDAY 16 December
12:00 Germany v Spain, Egypt v Switzerland, New Zealand v Scotland, Ireland v Singapore
15:00 France v Malaysia, Colombia v Republic of Korea, Jamaica v Kuwait
18:30 Hong Kong v Australia, England v Wales, Argentina v South Africa, Canada v Nigeria
TUESDAY 17 December
12:00 New Zealand v Singapore, Scotland v Ireland, France v Republic of Korea, Malaysia v Colombia
15:00 USA v Switzerland, England v Nigeria, Australia v Jamaica
18:30 Wales v Canada, Hong Kong v Kuwait, Germany v South Africa, Spain v Argentina