Egyptian squad members Nour Al-Sherbini and Karim Al-Hammami won the World U-19 champions at the WSF (World Squash Federation) World Junior Squash Championship held from 16 -27 July. This year, the event took place at the Hasta La Vista Squash Centre in the historical city of Wroclaw in Poland. Meantime, Egypt had been named as top seeds for the 2013 WSF Women's World Junior Team Squash Championship and are firm favourites to become the first nation in the event's 28-year history to win the title four times in a row. The events featured the World Individual Under-19 titles for both men and women (16-21 July), followed by the Women's World Junior Team Championship (22-27 July). The two events were played as the sports section of Al-Ahram Weekly went to press. Top seed Al-Serbini beat her fellow Egyptian, 5/8 seed Mariam Metwalli 11-7, 16-14, 11-8 in the final. The jubilant second seed Al-Hammami defeated Egypt's No 1 Fares Dessouki 11-8, 11-6, 6-11, 13-11 in the final, winning his first world junior title. The WSF World Junior Squash Championship (U-19) titles remain in Egyptian hands for the third consecutive year. In the 2011 WSF World Junior Squash championship in Belgium, Marwan Al-Shorbagi and Nour Al-Tayeb claimed both the men's and women's titles. And in the WSF World Junior Squash championship in 2012 in Doha, Qatar, Al-Shorbagi and Nour Al-Sherbini captured both titles. Thus, Al-Sherbini became the sport's youngest ever world champion at the age of just 13. On 28 November 2009, Al-Sherbini was awarded the Young WISPA Squash player of the year. In addition, Egypt won the women's Junior World team title in 2007, 2009 and 2011. In the men's semi-finals, Dessouki beat Qatar's 5/8 seed Abdulla Al-Tamimi 11-4, 12-10, 11-7 in 36 minutes. Al-Hammami defeated England's 5/8 seed Richie Fallows 11-5, 9-11, 11-7, 11-5 in 60 minutes. In the men's quarter-finals, Dessouki defeated 5/8 seed Diego Elias, Peru's first ever competitor in the championship, 11-9, 9-11, 11-5, 11-4 in 65 minutes. Al-Hammami beat Kuwait's 5/8 seed Yousif Nizar Saleh 9-11, 11-5, 11-8, 11-7. Al-Tamimi is marking his country's debut appearance at the last eight stage of the championship. He beat the English unseeded Lyell Fuller 12-10, 11-8, 11-6. Fallows was the runner-up in the recent European Junior Championship. Fallows later defeated Egypt's Mohamed Al-Gawarhi 7-11, 11-4, 11-13, 11-8, 11-9 in 80 minutes in the longest match of the tournament so far. In the women's semi-final, Al-Sherbini beat fellow Egyptian Habiba Mohamed 11-8, 11-8, 11-9 in 31 minutes to become the first player ever to reach a world junior championship final for a fourth time. Metwalli, a 5/8 seed, defeated Egypt's 3/4 seed Yathreb Adel 11-6, 9-11, 11-6, 13-11 in 64 minutes. In the women's quarter- final, Al-Sherbini beat compatriot Salma Ibrahim 11-9, 11-3, 11-6 in 27 minutes, while 14-year-old Mohamed upset the USA's 3/4 seed Sabrina Sobhi 11-7, 11-7, 11-8. Adel needed only 25 minutes to upset Belgium's Nele Gilis 11-4, 11-5, 11-1. Metwalli beat Egyptian compatriot, the second seed Nourhan Gohar 7-11, 11-7, 11-5, 11-13, 11-8 in 74 minutes.
