This one is for Egypt,” smiled Ramy Ashour. “Of course,” echoed Raneem El Weleily.
Egypt's 2-0 victory over defending champion and second seed England in the final of the JSW-SDAT-WSF mixed team Squash World Cup at the Express Avenue Mall here on Saturday, should give the people back home some cheer for all the problems they have encountered of late.
Ramy Ashour has been the talking point in this World Cup with his superb skills. He is a purist's delight.
In his 11-8, 11-7, 11-7 win over James Willstrop, World No.4, Ashour, ranked two places above the Englishman, made him look like a novice.
The first game provided an ideal example of how Ashour approaches the game: sensing an opponent's weaknesses and exploiting it to the hilt.
From 8-8, Ashour won the next three points in a similar pattern. Drawing Willstrop to the front with a backhand cross-court drop, Ashour quickly finished the point with a lethal forehand volley.
Weleily is a player to watch out for in the years to come. The 22-year-old from Alexandria has had a wonderful World Cup. After putting it across Australia's Rachael Grinham in the semifinals, Weleily trained her guns on Jenny Duncalf in the second tie.
Ranked No.2 in the World, Duncalf was the obvious favourite. But Weleily showed scant reputation to rankings. She deceived Duncalf time and again with wonderful drop shots, to prevail 11-8, 7-11, 11-9, 11-1.
Trailing 1-2, Duncalf, one thought, would go all out in the fourth game. But it was not to be. Weleily, the World junior champion in '07, varied her shots smartly to race away to a 7-1 lead.
In fact, this is Weleily's first victory over Duncalf in five meetings.
Egypt received the trophy (in the shape of a squash racquet) and $50,000 while England had to be content with $25,000.
Australia, which defeated Malaysia 2-1 for the third place, got $15,000.
“We expected it to be a tough match. England has very good players. We are happy to have won it for our country. Raneem did the unexpected and we should give a lot of credit to her,” said Ashour.
The results: Final: Egypt bt England 2-0 (Ramy Ashour bt James Willstrop 11-8, 11-7, 11-7; Raneem El Weleily bt Jenny Duncalf 11-8, 7-11, 11-9, 11-1).
Third place play-off: Australia bt Malaysia 2-1 (Cameron Pilley bt Muhd. Asyraf 11-4, 11-5, 11-4; Rachael Grinham lost to Nicol David 8-11, 3-11, 5-11; Aaron Frankcomb bt Kamran Khan 11-6, 11-6, 11-3).
