Malaysia’s Harith Danial Jefri and Egypt’s Janna Galal have been named as U19 top seeds for the 2025 British Junior Open (BJO) in Birmingham from January 2-6.
The 2025 edition of the iconic platinum event will see 772 of the world’s finest junior squash players from over 50 countries do battle across 10 age categories at the University of Birmingham Sport and Fitness and neighbouring clubs Edgbaston Priory, Solihull Arden, West Warwickshire Sports Complex and Sutton Coldfield.
Jefri was bronze medallist at the WSF World Junior Championships in Houston in July. His main BU19 title rival in Birmingham is expected to be second seed Youssef Salem of Egypt, who has won the BJO BU17 title for the past two years.
In the semi-finals, Jefri is seeded to meet England’s 3/4 seed Abdallah Eissa of England, who was a quarter-finalist at the World Junior Championships in July, while Salem is seeded to face Malaysia’s 3/4 seed Low Wa-Sern.
GU19 top seed Galal finished fourth in the U19 age group at last season’s BJO – losing to eventual champion Fayrouz Abouelkheir in the semi-finals despite being only 16 at the time. The Alexandria-born player is seeded to face 3/4 seed Lauren Baltayan of France in the semi-finals, while Egypt’s second seed Nadien ElHammamy is expected to meet compatriot Sohayla Hazem Farouk.
Egypt’s Adam Hawal, who finished third in the BJO BU17 last January and has reached five semi-finals on the PSA Tour this year, is named BU17 top seed. He is due to face USA’s [3/4] Jack Elriani in the semis, who was the European Junior Open U19 winner in June. Second seed Amir Khaled-Jousselin, hero of France’s historic European U19 Mixed Team Championship victory in March, will face Egypt’s [3/4] Refaay Seifeldin if results go with the seedings.
In the GU17, India’s Anahat Singh returns to the same venue where she made such a high-profile entrance on the world stage at the 2022 Commonwealth Games, aged just 14. Two and a half years on, she now has eight PSA Tour trophies and two national titles under her belt and is favourite to add a third BJO gold medal to her collection.
Singh is on the same side of the draw as 3/4 seed Ruqayya Salem of Egypt, while second seed Malika El Karaksy of Egypt could face a semi-final showdown with [3/4] Helen Tang of Hong Kong, who was Asian U17 Championship runner-up in June.
Carlton Capella made history in 2023 as the first ever male American title winner at the BJO since the tournament’s inception in 1926. The New Yorker will now bid to add an U15 crown to his U13 title from two years ago. He goes in as top seed and is predicted to face [3/4] Yassin Bayoumi of Egypt in the semis. On the other side of the draw lies second seed England’s Ali Khalil, the current British U15 champion, who is seeded to face Egypt’s 3/4 seed Mohammed Khalil in the last four.
The top three seeds in the GU15 are all from Egypt – last year’s runner-up Rama El Naggar, recent Egyptian Open winner Habiba Rizk and third seed Rinad Hytham Elmergawy. El Naggar is seeded to face Elmergawy in the semi-finals, with Rizk taking on [3/4] Isabella Tang, winner of the recent US Junior Open.
Egypt also dominate the top seedings in the BU13 draw, where [1] Moez Tamer Elmoghazy is expected to be closely challenged by compatriots [2] Amr Moustafa and [3/4] Ali Ismail for the title. Elmoghazy and Ismail are on course for a semi-final meeting, while Pakistan’s [3/4] Muhammad Sohail Adnan potentially lies in wait for Moustafa in the last four.
All four of the top seeds in the GU13 hail from Egypt, led by Habiba Wael, who finished third in the BJO U11 two years ago. She is seeded to play [3/4] Yara Elzorkany in the last four, with [2] Talia Sherif set for a match-up with [3/4] Serein Mohamed.
Egypt’s Anas Tawfik goes into his first BJO as BU11 top seed with a prospective semi-final against [3/4] Nik Izz Dameer Norifaizal of Malaysia on the horizon. For second seed Rayan Ghozlan, also from Egypt, a potential last-four match with [3/4] Anderson Morgan of USA is on the cards.
In the GU11, top seed Laila Mohamed Mohsen is seeded to meet fellow Egyptian [3/4] Lilya Medhat in the semis while [2] Farida Hakim of Egypt and USA’s [3/4] Alice Wang are also on a collision course.
The draws for the 2025 British Junior Open are available here.