Egypt, Malaysia and Australia top pools

By Raju Chainani

PENANG, JULY 23. India's elevation to No. 7 in the seedings put it into Pool B with the No. 2 seed and defending champion England and the No. 10 seed the Netherlands. The revised match schedule has resulted in India having a day of rest today. India's concluding tie against England is scheduled for 5 p.m. tomorrow.

On the penultimate day of the preliminary rounds, defending champion Egypt, host Malaysia and three-time winner Australia topped their respective pools.

The England-India tie will determine which team will head Pool B. India has no injury problems and should be at full strength against the Europen champion and past winner of this event on four occasions.

It has been far from smooth sailing for Egypt and Malaysia. The young ladies from the land of the pharoahs have beaten Switzerland and Germany by 3-0 margins but they have had to work harder that anticipated for their success.

Malaysia's Tricia Chuah, semifinalist in the individual event, is making the think-tank work overtime. Her confidence level has dropped and her message to the media, ``Please give me a break'', said it all.

lThe results:

Pool A: (1) Malaysia bt (8) New Zealand 3-0 (Nicol David bt Kylie Lindsay 9-1, 9-5, 9-0; Sally Looi bt Larissa Stephenson 9-4, 9- 10, 9-6, 9-5; Tricia Chuah bt Jaclyn Hawkes 9-7, 9-0, 9-4).

Pool B: (2) England bt (10) Netherlands 3-0 (Tina Rix bt Shari Marges 9-2, 9-2, 9-0; Laura-Jane Lengthorn bt Magriet Husiman 9- 0, 9-1, 9-1; Alison Waters bt Orla Noom 10- 8, 9-2, 9-2).

Pool C: (3) Egypt bt (6) Germany 3-0 (Sara Badr bt Sandra Zeimels 9-5, 9-4, 9-0; Omneya Abdel Kawy bt Kathrin Rohrmuller 9-6, 9-0, 9-0; Amna El Tarabolsy bt Jennifer Post 9-0, 9-6, 4-9, 9-1); (11) Switzerland bt (14) Singapore 3-0 (Rosalinda Santos bt Goh Mui- Yen 9-2, 9-4, 9-4; Manuela Zehnder bt Janice Wong 9-0, 9-4, 9-1; Melanie Scarlato bt Tan Pei-Qi 9-0, 3-9, 9-3, 9-7).

Pool D: (5) USA bt (13) Ireland 3-0 (Michelle Quibell bt Siobhan Parker 9-5, 9-0, 9-0; Ali Pearson bt Emma Toolan 9-2, 9-6, 9-1; Amy Gross bt Tanya Owens 3-9, 9-1, 9- 6, 9-2); (4) Australia bt (12) Hong Kong 3-0 (Lisa Camilleri bt Frances Ho 9-0, 9-4, 9-4; Georgina Davis bt Natalie So 9-5, 9-7, 9-0; Kasey Brown bt Connie Choi 9-3, 9-3, 9-3).

Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Section  : Sport
Previous : Damaging revelations against Cronje
Next     : Sloudnov rewrites his breaststroke World record