The third seeds opened up a surprise lead over England in the mixed team event at the Indian Squash Academy when Lucas Serme (pictured left), a linguistics student at the University of the West of England, beat higher-ranked Englishman Charles Sharpes (right) 11-8, 11-5, 11-4 in 36 minutes.

"It's a long time since we last played, so I really didn't know what to expect," said 19-year-old Serme, who combines his studies with regular appearances in Professional Squash Association (PSA) World Tour events.

Though now ranked 87 in the world, more than 50 places higher than the Frenchman, Sharpes – now on the professional circuit – has been unable to beat his rival since 2009.

The hopes of the English camp were lifted shortly afterwards when 17-year-old Emily Whitlock, the reigning European junior champion, beat France's Cyrielle Peltier 11-4, 11-1, 11-9 to level the tie.

But France fought back when Geoffrey Demont, a 20-year-old from Aix en Provence, beat England's second string Ben Coleman 11-8, 11-8, 11-8 in almost an hour to lead to the first team upset of the event.

"There is always a great fighting spirit in matches we have against England and it's fantastic to have now beaten our great rivals for only the third time ever," said the French coach, Philippe Signoret.

As expected, Egypt overwhelmed fourth seeds India, but the plucky home players, loudly supported by the biggest crowd yet at the Academy, put in impressive performances to make the favourites work for their win.


Chennai based Ravi Dixit took a game from Marwan El Shorbagy (pictured) and built up a commanding lead over the world junior champion in the fourth game.

But El Shorbagy, now ranked 33 in the world, upped the pressure to close out the match 11-7, 6-11, 11-4, 12-10, before former world junior champion Nour El Sherbini made sure of victory after beating Anaka Alankamony 11-6, 11-3, 11-7.

Indian number three Karan Malik took the opening game in the final match, but Karim Abdel Gawad came back to win 3-11, 11-9, 11-0, 11-3 to keep a clean sheet for the top seeds.

Australia narrowly avoided another shock result after falling one match behind to Germany.

But Sarah Cardwell, the 20-year-old daughter of Australian legend Vicki Cardwell, levelled the tie by beating Germany's Annika Wiese 11-6, 11-7, 11-4 in just 20 minutes, and the fifth seeds moved through thanks to a victory from Walter Koteka, watched by Australia's manager Rodney Eyles, the former world champion.

Eyles is extremely enthused by the introduction of the under-21 team event.

"It's very significant from Australia's point of view," he said.

"We've suffered over the years from the transition from junior to senior level – but we can now show our youngsters a good pathway, laying the foundation for the PSA and WSA Tours.

"The World Squash Federation have brilliantly orchestrated this and the countries have really supported it," added Eyles.

"It's exactly what we needed and I think it will really help inspire our youngsters to take up the game."

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