Peter Creed, from Caerphilly, finished his World Team Championships on a winning note.
Creed, who plays out of Rhiwbina SRC, won 3-1 against Finland’s Olli Tuominen and 3-0 against Canadian opponent Nick Sachvie in Marseille.
Wales were seeded 13 for the Championships and fell just short of that, finishing 14th overall.
They won 2-1 against Finland to stay on course, but then slipped to a 2-1 defeat against Canada.
That could easily have gone the other way with Emyr Evans fighting out a gruelling match against Shawn Delierre.
Cardiff’s Evans fought back from two games down to make it 2-2, but Delierre edged the decider 17-15 in a clash which lasted for 92 minutes.
David Haley’s match also went to a decider before he lost against Andrew Schnell 3-2 and that lasted 71 minutes.
Results (13th/16th place play-offs): [13] Wales bt [15] Finland 2/1
David Heley beat Jami Aijanen 12-10, 13-11, 11-7 (41mins)
Peter Creed beat Olli Tuominen 11-7, 9-11, 11-5, 11-8 (49m)
Emyr Evans lost to Miko Aijanen 12-10, 1-11, 7-11 (45m)
13th/14th place play-off: [14] Canada bt [13] Wales 2/1
Nick Sachvie lost to Peter Creed 6-11, 8-11, 8-11 (45m)
Shawn Delierre bt Emyr Evans 11-6, 13-11, 3-11, 7-11, 17-15 (92m)
Andrew Schnell bt David Haley 7-11, 11-8, 12-10, 9-11, 11-7 (71m)
Favourites Egypt defeated defending champions England to win the Championships, beating defending champions England in the final at Salle Vallier in Marseille to reclaim the World Squash Federation title.
England reached the final for the ninth time since 1983 in comfortable style and presented a line-up for the final boasting three players with more than 300 international caps between them – probably the most experienced team ever to represent the country in 50 years of the tournament!
By contrast the four-man Egyptian squad only included one player who had ever competed in the championship before – yet the three-man team in the final all had rankings in the world top five.
Egypt won the final 2-0 and second string Ali Farag, who clinched the title, said: “I felt I had the whole Egyptian squash community on my shoulders. I wanted to make them proud.
“Four years ago, I was still at college. I remember watching the final – it was a dream of mine to wear the Egyptian shirt.
“This was for Egypt. It is the highlight of my career.”
WSF Men’s World Team Squash Championship, Marseille, France
Final: [1] EGYPT bt [2] ENGLAND 2/0
Karim Abdel Gawad bt Nick Matthew 11-9, 11-3, 11-7 (34m)
Ali Farag bt James Willstrop 11-5, 11-9, 11-5 (36m)
Bronze medallists: [4] AUSTRALIA & [5] HONG KONG CHINA
5th place play-off:
[3] FRANCE bt [6] NEW ZEALAND 2/1
Gregoire Marche lost to Paul Coll 9-11, 11-7, 9-11, 8-11 (73m)
Mathieu Castagnet bt Campbell Grayson 11-7, 11-5, 11-6 (45m)
Lucas Serme bt Evan Williams 11-6, 11-9, 11-6 (37m)
7th place play-off:
[8] INDIA bt [10] SCOTLAND 2/1
Vikram Malhotra lost to Alan Clyne 5-11, 14-16, 7-11 (37m)
Harinder Pal Singh Sandhu bt Greg Lobban 11-9, 12-10, 11-9 (41m)
Mahesh Mangaonkar bt Douglas Kempsell 11-8, 11-7, 5-11, 11-1 (44m)
9th place play-off:
[7] GERMANY bt [11] USA 2/0
Simon Rösner bt Todd Harrity 11-8, 8-11, 11-3, 11-5 (37m)
Raphael Kandra bt Christopher Gordon 11-9, 11-5, 11-7 (35m)
11th place play-off:
[12] SPAIN bt [9] MALAYSIA 2/1
Iker Pajares Bernabeu lost to Nafiizwan Adnan 8-11, 12-10, 7-11, 6-11 (63m)
Carlos Cornes bt Eain Yow Ng 5-11, 5-11, 11-9, 11-7, 11-7 (62m)
Bernat Jaume bt Addeen Idrakie 11-2, 11-8, 11-9 (42m)
13th place play-off:
[14] CANADA bt [13] WALES 2/1
Nick Sachvie lost to Peter Creed 6-11, 8-11, 8-11 (45m)
Shawn Delierre bt Emyr Evans 11-6, 13-11, 3-11, 7-11, 17-15 (92m)
Andrew Schnell bt David Haley 7-11, 11-8, 12-10, 9-11, 11-7 (71m)
15th place play-off:
[15] FINLAND bt [16] SWITZERLAND 2/1
Olli Tuominen lost to Nicolas Müller 11-7, 5-11, 11-13, 12-14 (50m)
Miko Äijänen bt Dimitri Steinmann 11-8, 13-11, 11-4 (32m)
Jami Äijänen bt Roman Allinckx 6-11, 11-9, 11-4, 6-11, 12-10 (52m)
17th place play-off:
[18] ARGENTINA bt [22] SOUTH AFRICA 2/0
Leandro Romiglio bt Christo Potgieter 11-7, 11-7, 11-9 (34m)
Robertino Pezzota bt Rodney Durbach 7-11, 12-10, 9-11, 14-12, 11-9 (64m)
19th place play-off:
[17] PAKISTAN bt [20] IRELAND 2/0
Farhan Zaman bt Arthur Gaskin 11-6, 11-7, 11-8 (24m)
Shahjahan Khan bt Brian Byrne 11-8, 11-9, 11-9 (35m)
21st place play-off:
[19] CZECH REPUBLIC bt [21] JAMAICA 2/0
Daniel Mekbib bt Christopher Binnie 8-11, 11-6, 11-8, 11-6 (42m)
Ondrej Uherka bt Lewis Walters 11-4, 11-8, 13-11 (35m)
23rd place play-off:
[24] IRAQ bt [23] AUSTRIA 2/1
Husham Al-Saadi lost to Aqeel Rehman 7-11, 2-11, 6-11 (25m)
Hasanain Dakheel bt Jakob Dirnberger 7-11, 11-4, 11-8, 11-2 (36m)
Rasool Alsultani bt Lukas Windischberger 11-9, 11-3, 11-6 (30m)