Following a successful appeal to the World Squash Federation seeding panel, New Zealand have been promoted to fourth seeds in next week’s WSF Men’s World Team Squash Championship in Washington DC.
Egypt are seeded to retain the title in the 26th edition of the biennial World Squash Federation championship which will be hosted by US Squash at Squash On Fire, the new state-of-the-art eight-court facility in the US capital from 15-21 December, and will feature 23 nations.
New Zealand, one of only two nations to have competed in every event since the inaugural championship in 1967, will be led by Paul Coll, the world No.5. Three times runners-up, New Zealand finished in fifth place in the 2017 championship in France – their best finish for 24 years.
Supporting Coll in the 2019 Kiwi squad will be world No.25 Campbell Grayson and world No.93 Evan Williams – all members of the 2017 squad – plus 20-year-old event newcomer Lwamba Chileshe, ranked 158 in the world.
Formerly the fifth seeds, New Zealand have replaced Germany in Pool D, with Germany – the new fifth seeds – moving to Pool E.
The revised pool line-ups, including team seedings in brackets, are:
POOL A: [1] Egypt, [12] Switzerland, [15] Canada
POOL B: [2] England, [11] Wales, [14] Colombia, [23] Nigeria
POOL C: [3] France, [10] Malaysia, [13] USA, [22] Republic of Korea
POOL D: [4] New Zealand, [9] Scotland, [18] Ireland, [20] Singapore
POOL E: [5] Germany, [8] Spain, [16] Argentina, [19] South Africa
POOL F: [6] Hong Kong China, [7] Australia, [17] Jamaica, [21] Kuwait
Full updated Pool schedule:
SUNDAY 15 December:
12:00 Egypt v Canada, New Zealand v Ireland, Scotland v Singapore
15:00 France v USA, Spain v South Africa, Germany v Argentina, Malaysia v Republic of Korea
18:30 England v Colombia, Hong Kong v Jamaica, Wales v Nigeria, Australia v Kuwait
MONDAY 16 December
12:00 Germany v Spain, Egypt v Switzerland, New Zealand v Scotland, Ireland v Singapore
15:00 USA v Republic of Korea, France v Malaysia, Jamaica v Kuwait
18:30 Hong Kong v Australia, England v Wales, Argentina v South Africa, Colombia v Nigeria
TUESDAY 17 December
12:00 New Zealand v Singapore, Scotland v Ireland, France v Republic of Korea, Canada v Switzerland
15:00 USA v Malaysia, England v Nigeria, Australia v Jamaica
18:30 Wales v Colombia, Hong Kong v Kuwait, Germany v South Africa, Spain v Argentina