India crash out after Aussie loss

Ghosal, ranked 24th, stretched No 12 Cameron Pilley to five games in the opening match that lasted 72 minutes, but his team-mates, Dipika Pallikal and Harinder Pal Singh Sandhu lost their respective encounters in straight games as the Aussies recorded their second consecutive win.

India, who had narrowly lost to defending champions England in their opening tie on Tuesday, next meet Mexico, but are out of contention for a semifinal spot. Both England and Australia, with two wins apiece, have qualified for the semifinals and are scheduled to play each other to decide the pool positions.

In the five-team Pool A, top seeds and title favourites, Egypt are virtually assured of a semifinal berth after scoring over Malaysia, South Africa and Sri Lanka. Meanwhile, France defeated South Africa for their second victory following their 3-0 result against Sri Lanka on Tuesday. Malaysia beat Sri Lanka for their first win in two outings.

Results: Pool A: Malaysia bt Sri Lanka 3-0 (Muhd Asyraf Azan bt Navin Samarasinghe 9-11, 11-5, 11-2, 9-11, 11-7; Low Wee Wern bt Nadindhi Udangawa 11-3, 11-3, 11-2; Choong Kam Hing bt Dilshan Gunawardena 11-2, 11-4, 11-5); Egypt bt South Africa 3-0 (Ramy Ashour bt Stephen Coppinger 12-10, 12-10, 11-6; Raneem El Weleily bt Siyoli Waters 11-8, 11-3, 11-3; Mohamed El Shorbagy bt Rodney Durbach 11-7, 7-11, 11-0, 11-7);  Egypt bt Sri Lanka 3-0 (Karim Darwish bt Navin Samarasinghe 11-2, 11-3, 11-7; Raneem El Weleily bt Sharya Guruge 10-12, 11-1, 11-6, 11-2; Mohamed El Shorbagy bt Gihan Suwaris 11-8, 11-8, 11-5); France bt South Africa 3-0 (Yann Perrin bt Stephen Coppinger 11-3, 8-11, 11-8, 11-8; Camille Serme bt Tenille Swartz 11-7, 11-8, 11-9; Mathieu Castagnet bt Clinton Leeuw 11-9, 12-10, 11-5).
Pool B: Australia bt India 3-0 (Cameron Pilley bt Saurav Ghosal 9-11, 12-10, 11-4, 10-12, 11-5.