PADERBORN, Germany – Andrew Schnell of Calgary won the decisive match for a second straight day as Canada improved to 2-0 in the round robin on Monday to clinch a spot in the round of 16 at the men’s world team squash championships.
The seventh-seed Canadians defeated number-10 Mexico 2-1 to gurantee itself a top-two finish in its pool. On Sunday, Canada opened with a 2-1 victory over Scotland. The top-two in each pool advance to the playoff round. Canada closes out its round robin schedule Tuesday against winless Namibia.
PADERBORN, Germany – Andrew Schnell of Calgary won the decisive match for a second straight day as Canada improved to 2-0 in the round robin on Monday to clinch a spot in the round of 16 at the men’s world team squash championships.
The seventh-seed Canadians defeated number-10 Mexico 2-1 to gurantee itself a top-two finish in its pool. On Sunday, Canada opened with a 2-1 victory over Scotland. The top-two in each pool advance to the playoff round. Canada closes out its round robin schedule Tuesday against winless Namibia.
Against Mexico, Shahier Razik of Toronto lost the opening match Cesar Salazar 11-5, 11-9, 11-5. Shawn DeLierre of Brossard, Que., tied the match 1-1 defeating Eric Galvez 4-11, 11-9, 11-5, 11-4. Then the 19-year-old Schnell won a thriller 6-11, 6-11, 11-8, 11-3, 11-7 over Erik Tepos.
‘’I’m so proud to have the won the match especially playing for my country,’’ Schnell told Squashsite. ‘’Even though I was down, I stayed patient, held the ball and pushed it to the back as he (Tepos) was very fast in picking it up. The key was patience.’’
Schnell’s comeback match lasted an hour and the entire match took three hours to complete.
‘’He is developing, he is improving,’’ said Canada’s head coach Yvon Provençal of Montreal about Schnell. ‘’These events allow him to learn a lot. He’s got enormous potential, that’s for sure.’’
Official website: www.wmtc2011.com
RESULTS: World Team Championship, Paderborn, Germany
Qualifying rounds – Pool G:
[7] CANADA bt [17/24] SCOTLAND 2/1
Shawn Delierre bt Stuart Crawford 11-9, 11-7, 11-8 (46m)
Shahier Razik lost to Alan Clyne 6-11, 11-4, 11-6, 4-11, 10-12 (81m)
Andrew Schnell bt Chris Small 12-10, 11-7, 11-4 (38m)
[10] MEXICO bt [25/32] NAMIBIA 3/0
Eric Galvez bt Norbert Dorgeloh 11-0, 11-8, 11-7 (23m)
Cesar Salazar bt Marco Becker 11-4, 11-4, 11-5 (23m)
Erik Tepos Valtierra bt Andrew Forrest 11-7, 11-5, 11-6 (22m)