Castle backdrop for World Junior finals
By HOWARD HARDING – Squash Mad Correspondent
The World Squash focus will be on the Polish city of Bielsko-Biała for the next 12 days when more than 150 teenagers from 30 countries will compete in the 2016 VDC Dental-Care WSF World Junior Squash Championships.
Action in the Men’s and Women’s individual events gets under way tomorrow (6 August) at the nine-court Enjoy Squash club, with the final stages taking place on an all-glass showcourt sited alongside the historic Bielsko Castle in the heart of the city.
Players representing 26 nations will then compete in the WSF Men’s World Junior Team Championship from 12-17 August.
Just a month before her 19th birthday, Egypt’s Nouran Gohar is set to seal her illustrious junior career as women’s champion for the second successive year, in her third final appearance in a row. The highest-ranked player ever to be seeded to win the prestigious title, Gohar – the world No.5 from Cairo – is expected to keep the trophy in Egyptian hands for the 10th time in the last 11 years!
After historic double success by Peruvian Diego Elias in 2014 and 2015, the men’s trophy is also predicted to return to Egypt where former world No.1 Ramy Ashour began the country’s stranglehold on the title in 2004, continued by the current world No.1 Mohamed Elshorbagy in 2008.
Saadeldin Abouaish is the event’s top seed – though the 18-year-old from Cairo has yet to win a major junior title, having finished as runner-up in three British Junior Open championships and beaten finalist in the All Africa Junior Championship in 2015.
USA’s Marina Stefanoni boasts the distinction of being the event’s youngest player. But the 13-year-old from Darien in Connecticut is no stranger to success in U19 competitions having achieved title success in the Scottish Junior Open in January this year. Stefanoni is seeded to reach the last 16 and is likely to be a fixture in the championship for the next five years.
2016 WSF World Junior Championships, Bielsko Biala, Poland.
Men’s 1st round draw:
[1] Saadeldin Abouaish (EGY) bye
Ricardo Toscano (GUA) v Stephen Hearst (IRL)
Jan Siegle (GER) v William Curtis (AUS)
Jeremías Azaña (ARG) v Ng Ka Yiu (HKG)
Alex Eustace (AUS) bye
Mikolaj Korsak (POL) v Aryaman Adik (IND)
Scott Galloway (NZL) v Yannick Wilhelmi (SUI)
[9/16] Sajad Zareian (IRI) bye
[9/16] Kyle Finch (ENG) bye
Ravi Seth (CAN) v Sanjay Jeeva (BEL)
Marcus Sim Wei Jie (MAS) v Richard-John Kuhn (RSA)
Abedalkader Jeitan (JOR) v Adithya Raghavan (IND)
Ahsan Ayaz (PAK) v Joseph White (AUS)
Nils Roesch (SUI) v Maksymilian Wielgus (POL)
Callum Lawton (ZIM) v Han Dong Ryu (KOR)
[5/8] Benjamin Aubert (FRA) bye
[5/8] Mohammad Al Sarraj (JOR) bye
Ronald Palomino (COL) v Ondrej Jansky (CZE)
Juan Barreyro (ARG) v Roberto Urruela Bowen (GUA)
Harley Lam (HKG) v Matthew Henderson (CAN)
Spencer Lovejoy (USA) bye
Harrison Gill (USA) v Nicholas Wall (ENG)
Ethan Alfalfa Porter (ZIM) v Sébastien Bonmalais (FRA)
[9/16] Marwan Tarek Abdelhamid (EGY) bye
[9/16] Samuel Scherl (USA) bye
Harry Falconer (ENG) v Sam Sayes (NZL)
Sipho Ncube (RSA) v Loïc Hennard (GER)
Abbas Shoukat (PAK) bye
Abdalah El Masry (EGY) bt Pedro Gomes (BRA) w/o
Noel Heaton (CAN) v Luca Zatti (SUI)
Mohd Farez Izwan (MAS) bt Piotr Hemmerling (POL) w/o
[3/4] Israr Ahmed (PAK) bye
[3/4] Youssef Ibrahim Abdallah (EGY) bye
Callan Mackenzie Hall (RSA) v Alex Oswald (AUS)
Hamza Alzubaidi (JOR) v Mehran Javed (PAK)
Andrew Douglas (USA) v Adam Corcoran (ENG)
Richard Hollins (SCO) bye
Ong Sai Hung (MAS) v Mateusz Szewczyk (POL)
Ranjit Singh (IND) v Roman Allinckx (SUI)
[9/16] Victor Crouin (FRA) bye
[9/16] Charlie Lee (ENG) bye
Robin Ebert (GER) v Nilo Vidal (ESP)
Nicholas Joughin (ZIM) v Rahul Sehrawat (CAN)
Gabriel Morgan (USA) bye
Filip Jarota (POL) v Jamie Oakley (NZL)
Robin Mann (IND) v Lai Cheuk Nam Matthew (HKG)
Matías Kupferberg (ARG) bt Darren Rahul Pragasam (MAS) w/o
[5/8] Ryunosuke Tsukue (JPN) bye
[5/8] Karim Magdy (EGY) bye
Ibrahim Abdulaban (JOR) v Christoph Zust (SUI)
Nicholas Calvert (AUS) v Matias Knudsen (COL)
Kashif Asif (PAK) v Eric Kim (USA)
Michael Mehl (CAN) bye
Chan Wui Ki Lincoln (HKG) v Adam Shean (RSA)
Junior Enríquez Franco (GUA) v Rohan Mandil (FRA)
[9/16] Velavan Senthilkumar (IND) bye
[9/16] Ziad Sakr (EGY) bye
Tom Walsh (ENG) v Rodrigo Bonzo (ARG)
In Woo Lee (KOR) v Luke Mannion (ZIM)
Tobias Weggen (GER) bye
Cedric de Vos (BEL) v Abhay Singh (IND)
Jon van der Kreek (AUS) v Alireza Shameli (IRI)
Mateusz Osojca (POL) v Finn Trimble (NZL)
[2] Eain Yow Ng (MAS) bye
Women’s 1st round draw:
[1] Nouran Gohar (EGY) bye
Chan Sin Yuk (HKG) v Hyoju Seo (KOR)
Saskia Beinhard (GER) v Mariam Kamal (USA)
[9/16] Lucy Turmel (ENG) v Sunayna Kuruvilla (IND)
[9/16] Zoe Foo Yuk Han (MAS) v Dominika Lubińska (POL)
Denisa Rohunová (CZE) v Jessica Graham (AUS)
Faith Sithole (RSA) v Maria Tovar Perez (COL)
[5/8] Eleanor Epke (NZL) v Ashita Bhengra (IND)
[5/8] Amina Yousry (EGY) bye
Elise Lazarus (ENG) v Cheng Nga Ching (HKG)
Carley Barton (ZIM) v Kristýna Fialová (CZE)
[9/16] Casey Wong (USA) v Ailee Nayeri (IRI)
[9/16] Céline Walser (SUI) v Seunghee Oh (KOR)
Sadia Gul (PAK) v Lauren Aspinall (AUS)
Zeina Mickawy (EGY) v Jui Kalgutkar (IND)
[3/4] Sivasangari Subramaniam (MAS) bye
[3/4] Rowan Reda Araby (EGY) bye
Alexandra Haydon (AUS) v Fereshteh Eghtedari (IRI)
Jasmine Hutton (ENG) v Akanksha Salunkhe (IND)
[9/16] Marina Stefanoni (USA) v Emilia Kaniewska (POL)
[9/16] Satomi Watanabe (JPN) v Grace Gear (ENG)
Lynette Vai (PNG) v Ambre Allinckx (SUI)
Nikola Věříšová (CZE) v Kuzivakwashe Madungwe (ZIM)
[5/8] Andrea Lee (MAS) v Tang Yan Yi (HKG)
[5/8] Amelia Henley (ENG) v Noel Lee (RSA)
Chae Won Song (KOR) v Karolina Füzy (CZE)
Grace Pattison (AUS) v Alice Kramer (GER)
[9/16] Tinne Gilis (BEL) v Haley Scott (USA)
[9/16] Hiu Lam Lui (HKG) v Adya Advani (IND)
Aifa Azman (MAS) v Wai Yhann Au Yeong (SIN)
Marija Shpakova (SUI) v Grace Doyle (USA)
[2] Hania El Hammamy (EGY) bye
Official event website: wsfworldjuniors.com