Team USA will face hosts New Zealand and world No. 3 Paul Coll in the playoff rounds of the WSF Men’s World Team Championship after topping Group E Thursday, December 14, in Taraunga, New Zealand.
The U.S. faced a difficult start to their tournament when they found themselves 1-0 down in matches and 2-1 down in games against 9/12 seeds Czechia. Czechia’s Jakub Sonicky won a five-game opener against Andrew Douglas to give them a 1-2 lead, and Viktor Byrtus earned a 2-1 lead over TImmy Brownell in the No. 1 match up. Brownell fought back to win 11-7, 10-12, 9-11, 11-9, 11-9.
In the decisive No. 2 match up, Shahjahan Khan narrowly secured the win for Team USA 11-9, 5-11, 8-11, 11-1, 12-10.
The U.S. then sealed top position in Group E with a clinical 3-0 win over the Cook Islands on Wednesday.
The U.S. will face another major hurdle in the playoffs rounds against the Kiwis Wednesday night at 10pm ET with a spot in the quarterfinals at stake.
Watch the match live on the glass court in the Mercury Arena on worldsquash.tv.