LONDON, Aug 7: Defending champions Egypt and second-seeded Pakistan will line-up for the final of the World Junior Men’s Team Championship in Zurich after contrasting semi-final wins on Wednesday.

The two countries will be clashing in their second successive meeting in the climax of the global event. While Pakistan secured easy victory, Egypt had to struggle hard for its success.

After celebrating a place in the semi-final for the first time in their history, fifth seeded India were brought down to earth by a superior Pakistani outfit who thrashed the arch-rival 3-0.

Waqar Mehboob put Pakistan ahead with a 9-0, 7-9, 10-8, 9-0 victory over Aditya Jagtap followed by a superb win from Aamir Atlas who sealed his country’s final berth by overcoming top Indian Vikram Malhotra 9-0, 9-3, 9-0.

In the best-of-three-games third match, Mohammad Shoaib Hassan made it 3-0 by beating Ravi Dixit 9-1, 9-0.

On the other hand, Egypt started off on the back foot against third seeds England when Adrian Waller battled for 90 minutes for the underdogs - twice coming from behind to beat Egyptian Andrew Wagih Shoukry 4-9, 9-6, 6-9, 9-6, 10-8 to put the former champions ahead.

Egypt, however, soon recovered from the setback with new world champion Mohamed El Shorbagy beating England number one Joe Lee 9-7, 9-6, 9-4 in 45 minutes to draw level.

The decider was a fiercely-fought encounter in which Amr Khaled Khalifa ultimately proved too strong for Alex Ingham, beating the youngest member of the England squad 9-6, 9-6, 9-3 in 58 minutes to put Egypt back into the final for the third time in a row.

Results:

Semi-finals: [1] EGYPT bt [3] ENGLAND 2-1 Adrian Waller bt Andrew Wagih Shoukry 9-4, 6-9, 9-6, 6-9, 8-10; Mohamed El Shorbagy bt Joe Lee 9-7, 9-6, 9-4; Amr Khaled Khalifa bt Alex Ingham 9-6, 9-6, 9-3.

[2] PAKISTAN bt [5] INDIA 3-0 Waqar Mehboob bt Aditya Jagtap 9-0, 7-9, 10-8, 9-0; Aamir Atlas Khan bt Vikram Malhotra 9-0, 9-3, 9-0; Mohd Shoaib Hassan bt Ravi Dixit 9-1, 9-0.—APP