WORLD SQUASH NEWS

RESULTS: Women's World Junior Team Squash Championships, Cairo, Egypt

Final:
[1] EGYPT bt [3] AUSTRALIA 3-0 (Sara Badr bt Donna Urquhart 9-6, 9-4, 9-4 (39m); Omneya Abdel Kawy bt Kasey Brown 9-0, 9-0, 9-0 (24m); Raneem El Weleily bt Georgina Davis 9-0, 9-2 (11m))
    3rd place play-off:
[2] ENGLAND bt [4] INDIA 2-1 (Kirsty McPhee lost to Vaidehi Reddy 5-9, 9-6, 2-9, 1-9 (36m); Suzie Pierrepont bt Joshna Chinappa 9-3, 9-4, 10-8 (27m); Rachel Willmott bt Supriya Balsekar 9-3, 9-0, 9-1 (21m))
    5th place play-off:
[6] MALAYSIA bt [5] CANADA 3-0 (Sally Looi bt Miranda Ranieri 2-9, 9-3, 9-1, 9-3 (35m); Lim Yoke Wah bt Jennifer Blumberg 7-9, 9-6, 9-1, 9-4 (51m); Delia Arnold bt Ashley Clackson 9-3, 7-9, 9-2 (32m))
    7th place play-off:
[9] HONG KONG bt [10] USA 2-1 (Ka Kei Chiu bt Lauren McCrery 9-1, 9-6, 9-4 (39m); Ho Ling Joey Chan bt Lily Lorentzen 9-6, 9-3, 9-4 (34m); Annie Au Wing Chi lost to Audrey Duboc 3-9, 4-9 (22m))
    9th place play-off:
[8] NEW ZEALAND bt [7] SPAIN 3-0 (Priscilla Wildsmith bt Estela Carbonell 9-4, 9-3, 4-9, 9-4 (32m); Catherine McLeod bt Margaux Moros 9-6, 9-3, 9-3 (33m); Joelle King bt Chantal Moros 9-7, 9-3 (17m))
    11th place play-off:
[13] WALES bt [11] SCOTLAND 2-1 (Jessica Bevan bt Kirsty Craig 9-4, 9-2, 8-10, 9-2 (39m); Stacey Preece lost to Lauren Gray 10-9, 4-9, 10-9, 7-9, 3-9 (59m); Beth Winstanley bt Claire Kidd 9-5, 9-0, 9-3 (25m))
    13th place play-off:
[12] GERMANY bt [14] IRELAND 3-0 (Pamela Hathway bt Katie Wilson 6-9, 9-2, 9-6, 9-4 (38m); Pia Kaindl bt Zoe Barr 9-6, 9-1, 9-7 (28m); Sandra Krueger bt Aoife Kerrin 8-10, 9-0, 9-6 (25m))
    15th place play-off:
[16] SWITZERLAND bt [15] MEXICO 2-1 (Julia Schmalz bt Laura Garza 9-7, 9-0, 9-4 (23m); Corinne Scarlato lost to Imelda Salazar 10-9, 9-4, 1-9, 0-9, 2-9 (48m); Rosalinda Santos bt Nayelli Hernandez 10-8, 5-9, 10-9, 9-2 (42m))

Egypt Celebrate Stunning World Junior Title Win

Hosts and top seeds Egypt provided a fitting climax to the Women's World Junior Team Squash Championships by crushing Australia 3-0 in the final at the Cairo Stadium to demonstrate indisputably the country's supremacy in women's junior squash.

The victory followed the crowning of squad No1 Omneya Abdel Kawy as World Junior Individual champion last week - and the remarkable 18-year-old from Cairo, ranked 12 in the senior women's world rankings, went on to lead the national team in all of their matches through to the final against surprise opponents Australia, the third seeds.

Sara Badr put Egypt into the lead in the final with a 9-6 9-4 9-4 win in 39 minutes over Australia's No2 Donna Urquhart.  It then remained for national heroine Omneya Abdel Kawy to thrill the partisan crowds surrounding the refurbished Cairo Stadium all-glass court by whitewashing Australia's No1 Kasey Brown 9-0 9-0 9-0 in just 24 minutes to clinch the title for Egypt in dramatic style.

Whilst seemingly one-sided, it was this match that was expected to be the world individual final, but illness led to second-seeded Brown exiting the event at the last sixteen stage.

Egypt claimed maximum points when third string Raneem El Weleily beat Australia's Georgina Davis 9-0 9-2 in the 11-minute best-of-three dead rubber.

"This win is very important for women's squash here in Egypt as it will increase the number of junior girls that play the game," said Dr Samiha Aboulmagd, the 'godmother of women's squash in Egypt' who has played a leading role of the development of the sport in the country.  "The development of women's squash started 10 years ago when the Egyptian junior team won third place in their first ever show in a world event, when they were unseeded.  Now we have world junior champions, but we need to have more girls to play the game so that we can sustain this level of squash," added the former national champion.

Egyptian coach Ahmed Taher was very happy with the result and with the performance of the girls, who did even better than his expectations.  "The difficult part was to choose the team as I had to choose four out of six and as they were all very close to each other it was difficult as they were all eager to be in the team," said Taher of the six Egyptians who made it through to the quarter-finals of the individual championship.  "Three of the girls - Sara Badr, Nihal Yehia and Ranim El Weleily - are going to play in the next world championships as they are still 16 years old.  Naturally I hope we can win the title again - that would be another great achievement for Egyptian women's squash."

Mohamed El Menshawi, Chairman of the Egyptian Squash Federation, said that it mattered so much that Egypt won this event "as we are in our country and this event is under the auspices of the first lady Mrs Mubarak.  We are now sure that the authorities and the minister of youth will give extra support to women's squash, at junior and senior level," said El Menshawi.

In the play-off for third place, defending champions England fought back from a match down to beat fourth seeds India 2-1.  With two squad members (Emma Beddoes and Lauren Siddall) injured, England brought 15-year-old Rachel Willmott into the squad.  After England No1 Suzie Pierrepont levelled the tie by beating India's Joshna Chinappa 9-3 9-4 10-8 in 27 minutes, Willmott - believed to be the youngest player ever to represent England in the championship - belied her inexperience in the decisive third match to beat Supriya Balsekar 9-3 9-0 9-1 in 21 minutes to give England third place.

However, while India were celebrating their best ever finish in the event, it was five-times champions England's worst for ten years.

In the other play-off ties, Hong Kong beat USA 2-1 to finish in 7th place - their highest ever placing in five appearances in the championships.

Official website: www.worldjuniorwomenssquash.com/