Defending champions England are just a step away from their fourth successive title even as the Indian challenge ended in the quarter-final stage in the team event of the 12th World junior squash championship in Chennai on Friday.

England quelled a strong challenge from Egypt, prevailing 2-1 in the semi-finals and will meet Pakistan in the final.

Pakistan defeated Australia 2-1 to enter the summit clash for the first time in last 12 years while Egypt, a runner-up to England in the last three editions, yet again failed to break the ice.

Earlier, India, who entered the quarter-finals for the first time, could do little against a superior England and lost 1-2, with the holders conceding the last match after taking an unassailable 2-0 lead.

However, India, whose previous best finish was 15th place in 1992 were on course for a fifth or sixth place after defeating another losing quarter-finalists, Canada, 3-0. The hosts meet Mexico on Saturday.

After England's newly-crowned individual champion James Willstrop produced another flawless performance for an easy 9-1, 9-4, 9-4 win over Egypt's top player Moustafa Essam, Ashley Flathers ran into a fighting Sherif Moustafa Kamal, who took the match into a tense decider.

Rallying from two games down, Kamal levelled the scores at 2-2 with a fine display of fighing skills. In the fifth game, after trailing his English rival 2-6, Kamal came up with fine shots to close the gap.

But Flathers too played brilliantly and the points were closely contested with fortnues fluctuating. The Englishman finally sealed the issue at 9-6, 9-1, 5-9, 5-9, 10-9.

With a winning 2-0 lead, England's Peter Barker took the third match lightly, losing 8-9, 3-9 (best-of-three).

Pakistan, on the other hand, lost their second match against Australia after taking a 1-0 lead when Luke Morgan overcame the challenge of Safeerullah Khan in yet another five-game battle at 10-9, 6-9, 10-8, 4-9, 7-9. But, Majid Khan, a losing semi-finalist in the individual event, stamped his class, thrashing Aaron Frankcomb 9-0, 9-7, 9-0.

Earlier, top Pakistani Khayal Muhammad gave the lead to Pakistan with a 9-2, 9-3, 9-3 win over Jhie Gough.

Earlier report