As expected, Bermuda's squash team endured a crushing defeat at the hands of the fourth-seeded Egyptians at the World Team Squash Championships in Vienna, Austria yesterday.

All three of the Bermudians - Nick Kyme, James Stout and Sam Stevens - lost in straight games with not one of the matches going beyond the 20-minute mark.

Although they fought gamely and were competitive in phases, Bermuda's players simply had no answer to the often breathtaking speed, fitness and power of their opponents.

Bermuda were under no illusions going into the fixture and with many more meaningful clashes to come over the next five days, were under strict instructions not to run themselves into the ground attempting to keep up with a team whose reserve player boasts a world ranking well over a hundred places above Bermuda's number one.

First on court was the nineteen-year-old James Stout who was up against the 25th ranked player in the world, Mohammed Abbas.

He began in fine style, surprising Abbas by winning the first rally of the match with a delicate boast winner from the back of the court. It was not long, however, before the Egyptian began to dominate proceedings and it was only at 7-0 down in the third that the Bermudian youngster succeeded in troubling the scorers. Stout eventually succumbed 9-0, 9-0, 9-1 in just over 12 minutes.

Kyme took to the court next against the world number 12 Amr Shabana. Although he troubled the highly-rated Egyptian at times during a number of long rallies, he eventually lost 9-0, 9-1, 9-1.

With the tie already a foregone conclusion, Stevens took on Wael Hatem El-Hendy in the final game of the afternoon and was at first, clearly surprised by the huge step up in terms of pace and precision. Despite improving in the third, he failed to make the most of his opportunities to put the ball away and finished the match without a point after just under 12 minutes.

Despite the annihilation, Bermuda's coach Ross Triffitt was not overly concerned with the nature of the result.

"The boys did all that was asked of them in the circumstances and conserved their energy for the more important matches to come," he said.

"We are trying to finish as high as we possibly can in the final placings and killing ourselves in the first match against world-class opponents would have been foolhardy. Egypt are going to be right up there with a chance of winning the whole thing and it would have been unrealistic of us to expect anything other than what has happened today.

"Still, it was a fantastic experience for all three of them to try to compete with people of that standard. Taking yourself out of the comfort zone is the only way to improve."

Bermuda take on Finland today at 8 a.m. Bermuda time.