IANS

Chennai, Aug 8: Top seeds Egypt and Hong Kong will contest the team championship final in the World junior women's squash tournament here Saturday.

Egypt were stretched by a fighting United States (No.5) before they came through 2-1 while sixth seeded Hong Kong pulled off a dramatic 2-1 win against second seeds India in two pulsating semi-finals Friday.

The Indians, save Dipika Pallikal, their No.1 player, were rather disappointing and squandered a 1-0 lead to make exit.

Dipika won her opening singles in four hard-fought games against Tsz Ling Liu, but thereafter, it was a downhill ride for the home team as both Anwesha Reddy and Surbhi Misra capitulated in the second and third singles.

Both Anwesha and Surbhi had their chances to swing the match in their favour, but on the day, they were up against very determined opponents who controlled the flow from midcourt while forcing errors from the Indians.

Defending champions Egypt were given a torrid time with the Americans doing everything but snatching an unexpected victory.

Heba El Torky gave Egypt a 1-0 lead by winning the first singles in four games against Olivia Blatchford. However, Egypt suffered a huge reverse as newly-crowned world champion, 13-year old Nour El Shebini crashed to a stunning straight games defeat against Amanda Sobhy.

In the third singles, the experienced Nour El Tayeb held her nerves to beat Julie Cerullo and put Egypt in the final. In fact, Cerullo was not scheduled to play originally, but the USA team inadvertently kept her name in the team list as their No.3 player.

The results (semi-finals):

1-Egypt beat 5-USA 2-1 (Heba El Torky beat Olivia Blatchford 11-5, 11-6, 13-15, 11-7; Nour El Sherbini lost to Amanda Sobhy 6-11, 6-11, 8-11; Nour El Tayeb beat Julie Cerullo 11-6, 11-5, 11-4).

6-Hong Kong China beat 2-India 2-1 (Tsz Ling Liu lost to Dipika Pallikal 4-11, 12-10, 8-11, 6-11; Tsz Wing Tong beat Anwesha Reddy 12-10, 11-8, 11-6; Carmel Lee beat Surbhi Mishra 11-9, 8-11, 11-9, 11-9).

Playoffs:

For 5-8 positions: England beat Malaysia 2-0; Canada beat New Zealand 2-0. For 9-12 positions: France beat Australia 2-1; Germany beat South Africa 2-1. For 13-16 positions: The Netherlands beat Spain 3-0; Denmark beat Sweden 2-1.