Egypt won six gold and three silver medals at the Tecnifibre British Junior Open Squash Championships. Ghada Abdel-Kader reports on the big haul The British Junior Squash Open is the most prestigious and longest-established junior championship in the world calendar. For junior men and women under 13, 15, 17 and 19, it is considered the mother of all youth championships. It recently attracted more than 450 players from 34 countries to the Yorkshire city of Sheffield, England. Among the participants were England, France, India, Pakistan, Colombia, Argentina, Belgium, Denmark, Canada, Wales, Mexico, Malaysia, Qatar, South Africa, The Netherlands, Poland, the Czech Republic, Hong Kong, Japan, Jordan, the United Arab Emirates, Hungary, New Zealand, Austria, the US and Israel, and a UK squad from Lancashire. Amidst all these, Egypt won the crown for the fifth time since 2001. The president of the Egyptian Squash Federation (ESF) Assem Khalifa said the ESF will study the results to help it set up a new training programme for the new season "in addition to discussing the weak points." Executive director of the ESF Nassef Ghouprial praised the efforts "and the good planning of Khalifa and the board members. ESF aims at increasing the number of junior players to give precedence to Egypt in squash in the world. The technical staff of the men and women has done a good job. There was morning and evening training for the players before the championship. There were daily meetings with the players to encourage them to win." Forty Egyptian players participated, among whom was world junior champion Mohamed El-Shorbagi who beat Malaysian Ivan Yuen 3-0 (11-8, 11-7, 13-11) in the U19 final. El-Shorbagi won the same title in July 2008 in Switzerland. In the semi final, El-Shorbagi beat teammate Karim Abdel-Gawad 3-2 (11-2, 11-8, 7-11, 11-13, 11-8). "They amazed the spectators with their performance," technical director of the Egyptian men's junior team Mohamed Medhat said. Egyptian Amr Khalifa registered his first success in the men's U17 event with an 11-5, 11-3, 14-12 victory in the final over Pakistani Danish Atlas Khan. It was the second success for Khalifa after winning the U15 crown in 2007. Mahesh Mangaonkar crowned India's best ever performance in the championships by winning the men's U15 title. India boasted three finalists for the first time. Mangaonkar beat the hosts' Oliver Holland 11-5, 7-11, 11-7, 12-10 in 40 minutes. The Egyptians also remained on top in the women's events. Nour El-Tayeb beat Nouran El-Torki (EGY) 12-10, 11-8, 11- 6 in an all-Egyptian U17 final. El-Tayeb had won the U17, U15 and U13 age groups in previous tournaments. Nour El-Sherbeni defeated her colleague Kanzi El-Defrawi 11-6, 11-6, 10-12, 4-11, 11-4 in the U15 final. The success marked El-Sherbeni's third title in a row in Sheffield after winning the U13 trophy in 2007 and 2008. In the men's and women's U13 final, Yathreb Adel overcame her fellow Egyptian Salma Hani 11-7, 11-3, 8-11, 11- 8. Egyptian Amr Abul-Souad defeated the Indian Kush Kumar 3-2 (11-8, 7-11, 9-11, 11-9, 11-7). "We didn't think Abul-Souad would reach the final and win. As such, the ESF will honour him," Medhat said. Technical director of the Egyptian women's junior team Sherine Adel told Al-Ahram Weekly : "This championship is considered the world championship for various ages. Egypt is always number one in each age category. We have been participating for more than 15 years and each time we win but this time it was the largest scale of victory. We collected 22 medals out of a possible 32." Malaysian Low Wee Wern beat Indian Dipika Pallikal 11- 2, 11-8, 8-11, 11-8, the women's U19 title thus returning to Malaysia for the first time since 1999 when it was won by the reigning World Open champion Nicol David. "The ESF is preparing to form a new women's team to participate in the 2010 Women's World Team Championship in New Zealand," Khalifa said. "El-Shorbagi will present Egypt in the World Junior Men's Individual Championship in Chennai, India, in July 2009. " This time the World Squash Federation decided to hold the World Junior Men's Individual Championship every year instead of every two years and the World Junior Men's Championship for teams and individuals every two years, " Ghouprial said. Adel said the ESF was preparing the women's team for the U19 World Junior Squash Championship. Raneem El-Weleili won the title in Belgium 2005 and in Hong Kong
