Egypt's junior squash talents are rising to the occasion, reports Ghada Abdel-Kader Egypt's Salwa Youssef finished third in the women's Tecnifibre British Junior U-19 Open at Sheffield, England. The championship, from 2-6 January, is the second most prestigious in squash for youngsters after the world junior squash championships. Also in Sheffield, Egypt's Mustafa Taha finished in fourth place in the U-15 Open. Tecnifibre is divided into eight categories: the boys U-13, 15, 17 and 19 and Girls U-13, 15, 17 and 19. From 1999 to 2012, Egypt won the boys title -- U13, U15, U17 and U19 -- 36 times, and the girls title U13, U15, U17 and U19 40 times. In the first round, Youssef beat England's Catherine Finlayson 8-11, 11-8, 11-5, 8-11, 11-2. In the second round, Youssef beat England's Chloe Pearson 11-7, 11-3, 8-11, 11-5. In the quarter-finals, she beat the Indian Anaka Alankamony 11-9, 11-6, 11-9. In the semi-finals, Egyptian Nour El-Sherbini defeated Youssef 11-6, 11-2, 12-10. Youssef previously finished second in the girls U-13. "I hadn't played El-Sherbini since we met here in 2007 but I knew it was going to be a tough match," Youssef said. Youssef, 18, is ranked No 2 nationally. She is No 123 in the Women's International Squash Players Association (WISPA) World Rankings of February 2012. Before squash, Youssef tried many sports including tennis and swimming. "I started playing squash when I was eight. My brother was a squash player, too. A swimmer friend of mine, Amr Khaled, was a world champion in squash. It was Amr's father who encouraged my dad to play squash." And that apparently rubbed off on the daughter. What differentiates squash from any other sport? "I don't know. I love this game. I wanted to be a professional tennis player but I found it difficult to achieve good results in Egypt. You need to travel abroad all the time." Her favourite Egyptian squash players: Ahmed Barada and Omneya Abdel-Qawi. She took private tutoring in squash with coach Haitham Effat before being trained in Maadi Club by Mohamed Galal. Youssef's future calendar is booked solid as she prepares for the World Junior Championship in Qatar from 7-12 July. Youssef is currently studying in an American school in Egypt and in September, will enter a college in England where she will specialise in the media. In the first round, Taha beat England's James Connor 11-3, 11-9, 11-7. In the second round, he won England's Charlie Lee 11-7, 11-4, 11-8. In the third round, Taha beat England's James Peach 11-7, 7-11, 11-8, 11-8. In the quarter-finals, Taha defeated Malaysian Mohd Mukhtar 12-10, 11-7, 11-7. In the semi-finals, Egyptian Youssef Suleiman beat Taha 11-9, 11-4, 11-7. In the third play-off, Malaysian Eain Yow Ng defeated Taha 11-8, 11-7, 11-4. Now 15, Taha's love affair with squash started at seven. A third-year student at a secondary school, Taha told Al-Ahram Weekly "this is my first international championship. Most of the other events were national tournaments in Egypt."Taha trained for three years in Egypt's first professional squash academy, Maadi Squash Pros, in Maadi Club, under former professional squash player Mohamed Medhat.
