Wales Ace Joel Makin Leads World Team Squash Challenge

Joel Makin, from Pembrokeshire, will lead Wales into the World Team Squash Championships in Marseille, France later this month.

Welsh number one Makin, ranked number 42 in the World, joins Peter Creed, who plays out of Rhiwbina Squash Club, Cardiff’s Emyr Evans and David Haley, from Newport, in the team for the 25th World Championships.

The tournament starts on Saturday, November 25 and runs for a full week.

Head coach David Evans and performance analyst Dominic Turnbull will accompany the team.

With a record 16 players (eight men, eight women) currently plying their trade on the Professional Squash Association World tour, Wales boast skill and experience in abundance and will look to make serious inroads in the south of France.

“It’s been a number of years since the Welsh men’s team has competed in these Championships, but with the squad we have I’m now confident we can expect some great results,” says Evans, whose team are in a group alongside Australia and the Czech Republic.

Rhiwbina’s Peter Creed.

There are 24 teams in the championships at the Modern Squash and Salle Vallier venues and 2013 title winners England will finally get the opportunity to defend their crown.

The four-year gap is bees the 2015 event in Egypt was cancelled.

Iraq and Jamaica make their debut in the championships which will be played on the French Federation all-glass showcourts.

Wales team: Joel Makin (world ranking 42), Peter Creed (63), Emyr Evans (147), David Haley (210)

Three-time champions Egypt are seeded to reclaim the title in France next month, having lost 2-1 against England in the 2013 final.

Egypt have four players in the World’s top 11, including the fit again three-time World champion Ramy Ashour.

England line-up will include former World number ones Nick Matthew and James Willstrop, both making their seventh appearances in the championships.

Hosts France, led by world number one and former Maesteg Superleague player Gregory Gaultier, are the third seeds and will be looking to confound the seedings by reaching the final for the third time and win their first title.

Australia, winners of the title a record eight times since the inaugural championship in 1967, are the fourth seeds.

After qualifying action in eight pools, the top two teams in each pool will progress to the last 16 knockout stage, while the third-placed teams will play for positions 17-24.

The Teams:

Wales: Joel Makin, Peter Creed, Emyr Evans, David Haley

Scotland: Alan Clyne, Greg Lobban, Dougie Kempsell, Kevin Moran

England: Nick Matthew, James Willstrop, Daryl Selby, Adrian Waller

Ireland: Arthur Gaskin, Drian Byrne, Sean Conroy, Conor O’Hare

South Africa: Thoboki Mohohlo, Christo Potgieter, Rodney Durbach, Gary Wheadon

Germany: Simon Rosner, Raphael Kandra, Valentin Rapp, Rudi Rohrnuller

Argentina: Leandro Romiglio, Juan Pablo Roude, Roberto Pezzota, Rodrigo Obegron

Australia: Ryan Cuskelly, Cameron Pilley, Rex Hedrick, Zac Alexander

Austria:Aqeel Rehman, Jakob Dirnberger, Paul Mairinger, Lukas Windischberger

Spain: Borja Golan, Carlos Cornes, Iker Pajares, Bernat Jaume

USA: Chris Gordon, Chris Hanson, Todd Harrity, Faraz Khan

Finland: Olli Tuominen, Matias Tuomi, Miko Aijanen, Jami Aijanen

India: Saurav Ghosal, Harinderpal Sandhu, Vikram Malhotra, Mahesh Mangaonkar

Iraq: Mohamed Hasan, Rasool Al-Sultani, Hasanain Dakheel, Husham Al-Saadi

Jamaica: Chris Binnie, Bruce Burrowes, Lewis Walters, Dane Schwier

Malaysia: Nafiizwan Adnan, Ivan Yuen, Eain Yow Ng, Mohd Syafiq Kamal

Pakistan: Farhan Zaman, Amaad Fareed, Muhammad Asim Khan, Shahjahan Khan

Czech Republic: Daniel Mekbib, Jakub Solnicky, Martin Svec, Ondrej Uherka

Switzerland: Nicolas Mueller, Dimitri Steinmann, Reiko Peter, Roman Allinckz

Hong Kong: Max Lee, Leo Au, Tsz Fung Yip, Ming Hong Tang

Egypt: Karim Abdel Gawad, Ali Farag, Marwan ElShorbagy, Ramy Ashour

France: Gregory Gaultier, Gregoire Marche, Mathieu Castagnet, Lucas Serme

Canada: Nick Sachvie, Andrew Schnell, Shawn Delierre, Mike McCue

New Zealand: Paul Coll, Campbell Grayson, Evan Williams, Ben Grindrod

Pool line-ups (seedings precede team name)

Pool A: 1 Egypt, 16 Switzerland, 17 Pakistan

Pool B: 2 England, 15 Finland, 18 Argentina

Pool C: 3 France, 14 Canada, 20 Ireland

Pool D: 4 Australia, 13 Wales, 19 Czech Republic

Pool E: 5 Hong Kong China, 12 Spain, 24 Iraq

Pool F: 6 New Zealand, 11 USA, 22 South Africa

Pool G: 7 Germany, 10 Scotland, 21 Jamaica

Pool H: 8 India, 9 Malaysia, 23 Austria