Egyptian squash juniors walked in the footsteps of their world champion seniors, winning five of the titles at the 2019 Dunlop British Junior Open finals held in Birmingham, together with players from Malaysia, England, India and the US. Yehia Al-Nawasani overcame England's Yorkshireman Sam Todd who was second seed in the Under-17. Al-Nawasani, the junior world champion in the U-13 and U-15, beat Todd 4-1, winning the first three sets in a row, losing the fourth but taking the fifth for the title just three days before his 17th birthday. “When I won, I couldn't believe it,” said Al-Nawasani after completing his comeback, “but it feels amazing. I had to change my game plan and play more defensively. It was very tough to do that, but I'm glad I managed.” In the U-19 final, Mustafa Asal who was the U-17 world champion, crushed current British national junior champion Nick Wall, 11-4, 11-7, 4-11, 11-5 in 38 minutes. Egypt's three other successes emerged in girls finals – with former U-13 winner Salma Al-Tayeb upsetting the odds in the U-15 event by edging out reigning champion and top seed Aira Azman of Malaysia 3-2: 11-8, 9-11, 7-11, 15-13, 11-7. The other two came from all-Egyptian contests, as top seeds Hania Al-Hammami (U-19) and Amina Orfi (U-13) defeated their second-seeded compatriots Jana Shiha and Fayrouz Abul Kheir in straight games – and, in both cases, 26 minutes. At the start of the new year, world champions Mohamed Al-Shorbagi and Raneem Al-Welili, both of Egypt, kept their top seeded positions, reinforcing Egypt's position as the best squash country in the world.
