CHENNAI, Dec 7: Pakistan defeated India 3-0 and enhanced their chances of topping Group G in the 21st World Team Men’s squash championship here on Friday. Farhan Mehboob gave Pakistan lead with a close 8-11, 12-10, 11-5, 11-5 win over Siddhart Suchde in first singles.

Aamir Atlas Khan with his sharp strokes and crafty placements doubled the lead by outclassing Saurav Ghosal 12-10, 11-6, 11-13, 6-11, 11-9.

Mansoor Zaman then wrapped up the contest with a 11-6, 11-9, 11-3 victory over Ritwik Bhattacharya.

Pakistan had defeated Kenya 3-0 in their opening tie on Thursday.

Farhan Mehboob thrashed Hartaj Bains 11-2, 11-3, 11-6 in only 18 minutes. While, Aamir Atlas took only 23 minutes to overpower Hardeep Reel 11-5, 11-4, 11-6.

In the third match, Mansoor Zaman proved too good for Rajdeep Bains registering a convincing 11-1, 11-6, 11-3 victory.

Both Pakistan and India have made sure of their progress to the next stage but they have to take on lowly Bermuda and Kenya respectively on Saturday.

The possible semi-finalists – Egypt, France, England, Australia – have booked their berth in the knock-out pre quarter-finals which will be played on Sunday.

The draw for the last 16 matches will be decided late Saturday night.

Amongst the top players on view Friday, world number one Amr Shabana yielded a game. After Mohammed Abbas gave Egypt a 1-0 lead, beating Germany’s Moritz Dahmen 11-3, 11-4, 11-5, Shabana had a tough time negotiating 67-ranked Simon Rosner. However, the Egyptian came out victorious with scores of 11-7, 10-11 (0-2), 11-7, 11-3.

“I have yet to regain my focus after winning the World Open. Even now I’m getting calls at my hotel from my countrymen and journalists from around the world,” said Shabana.

“I am emotionally touched about the phone calls to congratulate me including my country’s vice-president. However, Simon played very well today and I had to bring in my best,” he added.

Wael El Hindi won the third match, defeating Tim Weber 11-7, 10-11 (0-2), 11-4, 11-2.

Results:

Group A: Egypt bt Germany 3-0 (Mohammed Abbas bt Moritz Dahmen 11-3, 11-4, 11-5; Amr Shabana bt Simon Rosner 11-7, 10-11 (0-2), 11-7, 11-3; Wael El Hindi bt Tim Weber 11-7, 10-11 (0-2), 11-4, 11-2); Finland bt Russia 3-0 (Henrik Mustonen bt Valery Litvinko 11-4, 11-0, 11-5; Olli Tuaminen bt Alexi Severinov 11-4, 11-2, 11-4; Matias Toomi bt Sergey Kostrykin 11-1, 11-3, 11-3).

Group B: England bt Spain 3-0 (Peter Barker bt Arturo Santo Tomas 11-4, 11-4, 11-7; Nick Mathew bt David vidal Villamide 11-7, 11-7, 11-10 (2-0); Lee Beachill bt Alejandro Garbi Caro 11-4, 11-4, 11-10 (3-1)).

Group C: Japan bt Venezuela 3-0 (Ken Okada bt Luis Hernandez 11-4, 11-6, 11-5; Jun Matsumoto bt Fransisco Valecillo 11-8, 11-7, 11-2; Takanori Shimizu bt Juan Pabli Sanchez 11-8, 11-4, 11-6); France bt USA 3-0 (Renan Lavigne bt Christopher Gordon 11-9, 7-11, 7-11, 11-10 (2-0), 11-4; Julien Bablo bt Jamie Crombie 11-4, 11-4, 11-7; Thierry Lincou bt Julian Illingworth 11-6, 11-6, 11-3).

Group D: Australia bt Scotland 3-0 (Scott Arnold bt Jamie Macoulay 11-4, 11-4, 11-5; Stewart Boswell bt Alan Clyne 11-3, 11-3, 11-6; Cameron Pilley bt Henry Leitch 11-6, 11-5, 11-2).

Group E: Kuwait bt Sri Lanka 3-0 (Nasser B.Al Ramezi bt Anura Hewage 11-4, 11-1, 11-2; Bader Al.Hussaini bt Saman Tilakaratne 11-6, 11-5, 11-3; Abdullah Al-Mezayen bt Navin Samarasinghe 11-2, 11-3, 11-3); Malaysia bt South Africa 2-1 (M. Nafizwan lost to Adrian Hansen 7-11, 8-11, 8-11; M. Azlan Bin Iskandar bt Jesse Engelbrecht 11-4, 11-5, 11-9; Ong Beng Hee bt Stephen Coppinger 9-11, 11-5, 11-10 (2-0), 11-8).

Group F: Canada bt Austria 3-0 (Mathew Giuffre bt Andreas Freudensprung 11-10 (2-0), 11-6, 11-6; Jonathan Power bt Aqeel Rehman 11-1, 11-2, 11-4; Shahier Razik bt Jakob Dimberger 11-9, 9-11, 11-6, 11-4).

Group G: Pakistan bt India 3-0 (Farhan Mehboob bt Siddharth Suchde 8-11, 11-10 (2-0), 11-5, 11-5; Aamir Atlas Khan bt Saurav Ghosal 11-10 (2-0), 11-6, 10-11 (1-3), 6-11, 11-9; Mansoor Zaman bt Ritwik Bhattacharya 11-6, 11-9, 11-3); Kenya bt Bermuda 3-0 (Hartaj Bains bt Robert Maycock 9-11 11-10 (2-0), 11-4, 11-2; Hardeep Reel bt Chase Toogood 11-4, 11-9, 11-4; Rajdeep bains bt Mel Cairnes 11-3, 11-1, 11-3).

Group H: Wales bt Chinese Taipei 3-0 (Jethro Binns bt Kai-Han Chuang 11-1, 11-6, 11-6; David Evans bt Chun-Yu Chang 11-8, 11-6, 11-8; Rob Sutherland bt Hsuen-Chih Huang 11-6, 11-4, 11-2); Netherlands bt Sweden 3-0 (Piedro Schweertman bt Gustav Detter 11-9, 11-5, 9-11, 11-6; Laurens jan Anjema bt Christian Drakenberg 11-3, 11-2, 11-9; Dylan Bennett bt Rasmus Hult 11-7, 11-6, 8-11, 11-5).—Agencies

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