OTTAWA (ON) – Canada has claimed fifth place of eight teams at the World University Squash Championships after defeating India on Sunday in Chennai, India.
OTTAWA (ON) – Canada has claimed fifth place of eight teams at the World University Squash Championships after defeating India on Sunday in Chennai, India.
The team competition began on Friday after the conclusion of the individual men’s and women’s events, where Canada claimed 10th, 12th, and 14th place finishes. Each team encounter was a best of three matchup including two male matches and one female. Canada’s first team encounter was against South Africa, a ¾ seed. Cameron Seth, playing in the 1 position for Canada, was up first against Andrew Martin of South Africa. The match was back and forth to start, but ended in a loss for Canada as Seth went down 3-1 (10-12, 12-10, 11-2, 11-9). The women’s matchup was on next, where Alix Younger faced Alexandra Fuller, who finished 4th in the individual competition. This was another close match with some extra points played, but Canada again went down 3-1 (14-12, 6-11, 11-8, 11-6) to lose the encounter 2-0.
This put Canada on the Consolation side of the draw, now playing for 5th place and up against France on Saturday in the consolation semi-finals. Seth faced French number 1, Antoine Petrucci, in the opening match, and again fell 3-1 (11-2, 8-11), 11-7, 11-7). Younger was next to play against Chloe Mesic, and again found herself in a highly contested, back and forth match. Younger took the first game, Mesic the second, and Younger was able to claim the next two to win the match for Canada 3-1 (11-4, 5-11, 11-6, 16-14). This set up the tiebreaker third match between James Van Staveren, playing in the Men’s 2 position and France’s Marc Olivera. James went up 2-0 quickly, and battled through the third to win 3-0 in extra points (11-4, 11-8, 12-10) and secure the encounter win for Canada.
Sunday was the final day of competition and saw Canada face home team India in the 5th place final. Cameron Seth opened the action in the Men’s-1 match against Maninder Pal Singh Sandu. Seth went up 2-0 before losing the third in extra points, and then taking the fourth handily to get the first win for Canada 3-1 (12-10, 11-8, 12-14, 11-3). Alix Younger saw herself up 2-0 but was unable to close out Sachika Ingale, who battled back to win 3-2 in 5 games (8-11, 9-11, 11-9, 11-5, 11-9). James Van Staveren again found himself in a winner-take-all situation, and came out strong to take the match and encounter for Canada, beating Hiteshwar Singh Riar 3-0 (11-4, 11-9, 11-7).
Canada was the smallest team in the competition, having the minimum number of three athletes to field a team. All other competing nations had a larger team of athletes and coaches to fill their matches and support each day. Congratulations to Cameron, Alix, and James, along with Team Leader Stephen Younger on the fifth place finish.
For More Information Contact:
Danny Da Costa
Executive Director, Squash Canada
Email: ddacosta@squash.ca
