Egyptian teenager Mohamed El-Shorbagui wins the World Junior Men's Squash Championship After defeating local hero Nicolas Mueller in a 67- marathon semi-final, second seed Mohamed El-Shorbagui went on to upset Pakistan favourite Aamir Atlas Khan in the final of the World Junior Men's Squash Championship in Zurich, only to ensure the prestigious title would remain in Egyptian hands for the third successive time. It was a dramatic climax to the 15th staging of the biennial World Squash Federation championship, held for the first time in Switzerland. A record 163 players from 37 countries entered the individual championship which reached its final in Zurich on 1 August. The event was followed by the World Junior Men's Team Championship, from 2 to 7 August. Khan, a semi-finalist both in 2004 and 2006 -- and, ranked 24th, the highest-world-ranked player in the field -- was a firm favourite to win the title. The 18-year-old reached the final without dropping a game. Victory would have made him the first Pakistani to lift the title since his legendary uncle Jansher Khan, the record eight-time senior World Open champion, in 1986. But El-Shorbagui was also hungry for success - and survived both his opponent and the naturally partisan crowd to topple Swiss star Mueller in five games less than 24 hours earlier. The 17-year-old from Alexandria, who celebrated a career-high world ranking of 60 this week, started badly but returned with full force before celebrating victory after 75 minutes in a 2-9, 9-3, 10-8 and 9-4 score line. "This is a very special moment," said the ecstatic teenager afterwards. "I'm very happy to be here and share it with my mother and father. I was 8-5 up in the third game and had to make a big push. This was once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and I knew it. The last two titles were won by Egypt, and there was a lot of pressure on me to win too," added El-Shorbagui. He is based in the UK where he trains with British squash supreme Jonah Barrington. "Aamir and I will probably have to play each other again in the team match. It will be another hard match and I need to go away and prepare for it." Egypt lead the way with seven teenagers through to the last 32, led by second seed El-Shorbagui who cruised to the final beating the Czech Republic number one Roman Svec 9-2, 9-6, 9-4, South African Reinhold Hergeth 9-3, 9- 1, 9-3, and Malaysia's Ivan Yuen 9-3, 9- 5, 9-1. El-Shorbagui follows the now 20- year-old world number four Rami Ashour as winner of the title. He is the latest in a distinguished line of former Egyptian champions including Ashour, Karim Darwish, Ahmed Faizi and the country's first winner, in 1994, Ahmed Barada. Egypt are seeded to win the World Junior Team Championship which was
