U-21 squash world cup: India hammer Australia

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Ravi Dixit punched above his weight to topple a higher-ranked Aussie Jamie McErvale as the Delhi youngster shouldered India into the semifinals of the U-21 squash World Cup here on Friday.

If Ravi was the chief architect in India’s 3-0 win, Dipika Pallikal and Ramit Tandon rubbed salt into Australia’s wounds by drubbing their respective opponents.

India will now take on France in the last-four on Saturday evening. England and star-studded Egypt will lock-horns for the other spot in the final.

The final round of league matches were held at a temporary glass court at the Express Avenue Mall and it proved to be a good advertisement for the sport which has been vying to get into the Olympics.
Ravi gave India the first blood as hundreds of curious shoppers thronged the playing area.

The Delhi boy, the reigning Asian U-19 champion, was a bundle of energy in his 11-4, 11-3, 10-12, 10-9 win over McErvale. Ranked 26 places behind the Australian, Ravi (world no.

193) stepped into the glass court as the underdog, but the odds changed swiftly in favour of the Indian when he raced to a 9-3 lead before pocketing the first game at 11-4 with an acute-angle boast — a shot using the sidewall to kill the ball.

Ravi, a trainee at the Chennai-based Indian Squash Academy, continued his domination to win the second game and had two match balls in the third when he developed cold feet. The Aussie pounced on the opportunity to stretch the match.

As Ravi pointed out, the pressure of playing in front of a big home crowd almost did him in as McErvale clawed his way back to win four points on the trot to make it 8-8 in the fourth game.

However a stroke point – awarded for being impeded by the opponent – and a brilliant drop from the T sealed the match in India’s favour. Dipika and Ramit hardly broke any sweat as they coasted to easy wins over Sarah Cardwell and Walter Koteka to complete the rout.

Earlier, for the third time in as many days, France recovered from losing the second match to prevail over their opponents. Their hard-fought 2-1 win over Hong Kong helped France become surprise toppers of Pool B, ahead of favourites England.

Results
(Final league matches): India bt Australia 3-0 (Ravi Dixit bt Jamie McErvale 11-4, 11-3, 10-12, 10-9; Dipika Pallikal bt Sarah Cardwell 11-6, 11-4, 11-5; Ramit Tandon bt Walter Koteka 11-1, 11-2, 11-4). France bt Hong Kong China 2-1 (Lucas Serme bt Yeung Ho Wai 11-3, 11-1, 11-6; Chloe Mesic lost to Tong Tsz-Wing 7-11, 6-11, 5-11; Geoffrey Demont bt Cheuk Yan Tang 11-6, 11-5, 11-5). Egypt bt Germany 3-0 (Karim Abdel Gawad bt Rudi Rohrmuller 11-6, 12-10, 11-8; Nour El Tayeb bt Franziska Hennes 11-7, 11-5, 11-6; Mohamed Abouelghar bt Sven Lemmermann 11-7, 11-9, 11-6). England bt Malaysia 3-0 (Charles Sharpes bt Sanjay Singh 11-6, 11-8, 10-12, 11-3; Emily Whitlock bt Rachel Arnold 11-1, 11-9, 11-9; Declan James bt Marcus Yuen 11-8, 11-5, 11-6).

Action today
(At Express Avenue Mall): Semifinals: Egypt vs England (3.30pm); France vs India (6pm).