England push Egypt to the limit in epic WSF World Team Championship Final

England's men finished as silver medallists at the WSF World Team Championships as Egypt claimed a seventh title at Happy Valley in Hong Kong.

Curtis Malik and Mohamed ElShorbagy both put in titanic performances against higher-ranked opponents in Mazen Hesham and Ali Farag respectively, but couldn't quite prevent the awesome Egyptians defending their title.

Malik's display was surely one of the best of his career as he led twice and played with wonderful consistency, accuracy and concentration.

After racing through the first against Hesham, the Sussex player had game ball in the second at 10-9 only for Hesham to cling on and take it 13-11, having been behind for most of the game.

Malik was quite brilliant in the third, hitting some lovely lines and making very few errors, taking it 11-6. Hesham won the first four points of game four but Malik came back to level at 5-5. A few tins crept into his game thereafter though and it slipped away 11-6.

The deciding game went deep, but a disputed out of court call at 9-8 gave Hesham match ball and a clipped tin by Malik was the final act of a terrific duel, which Hesham was clearly relieved to win 4-11 13-11 6-11 11-6 11-8.

Malik's display was described by TV commentator Paul Hornsby as "the performance of his lifetime"

Hesham certainly agreed saying:

"Curtis played amazingly well today. I've never seen him play this way. It was so tough mentally and physically."

England no.1 ElShorbagy faced a daunting task to save the match against world no.1 and four-time world champion Ali Farag, but he made a highly encouraging start, activating his famous 'beast mode' from the off and breezing through the first game 11-6.

A few errors crept in at the start of the second but the Englishman clawed his way back into it. It went to a tiebreak and although ElShorbagy saved one game ball with a stunning dive, Farag closed it out 13-11 with a backhand straight kill.

The third was level right the way until the end but it was Farag who held his nerve when it mattered, sending the England no.1 scurrying all around the court to take it 11-8.

ElShorbagy dug in bravely through some brutal rallying in the fourth and led 7-5, but Farag carved out three championship balls at 10-7. Two were saved by ElShorbagy, but he couldn't quite saved a third despite some lung-bursting retrieval and one final despairing dive. Farag climbed over the back glass to celebrate with his team.

England national coach Stuart Crawford reflected:

"I couldn't have asked for much more, especially from Curtis because this is a slightly newer stage for him. It's the first time he's pushed a top 10 player to what I would consider is their limit. He stepped up and performed on the big occasion, it's just unfortunate he couldn't quite get over the line. He's shown that he belongs at that level so he can hopefully start to trouble the top guys on a more consistent basis on the PSA Tour and also for England."

On ElShorbagy's performance, Crawford added:

"It's just incredible what he's still able to do. He struggled a little bit in the last couple of tournaments, but when he's moving well and up for it, as he certainly was today, he's still capable of performing at the very top level and pushing the best players in the world."

Earlier, Egypt won the women's title for the fourth successive time with a 2-0 win over USA. World no.7 Rowan Elaraby held off a spirited display by Marina Stefanoni 11-6 12-10 6-11 11-9, then all-time great Nour ElSherbini survived dropping the first game to Olivia Weaver to record a 7-11 11-6 11-7 11-7 win. England finished fifth after beating Hong Kong, China 3-0 on Saturday.