World Juniors: Records tumble on thrilling quarterfinals day

SQUASH - Int News 22 Jul, 2024

World Juniors: Records tumble on thrilling quarterfinals day

Pakistan journey ends in quarterfinals of Team Event, Colombia outplay Pakistan 2-1

Sports Bulletin Report

Houston, Texas (USA): Pakistan Squash Team ended their journey after losing quarterfinal against a low seeding Colombia 2-1 in the WSF World Junior Team Squash Championship at Houston Squash Club, Texas United States of America (USA) on July 21, 2024. Mohammad Hamza Khan and Mohammad Tayyab lost their matches while Abdullah Nawaz defeated his opponent.

In the men’s event, Colombia and Republic of Korea reached the semi-finals for the first time, while in the women’s event Canada achieved a first semi-final since 1987. Team USA also earned a national record medal haul, with the women's and men's team guaranteed at least bronzes after quarter-final wins, to accompany the bronze medal won by Caroline Fouts in the individual event.

Colombia went into the team event having fallen short of the high expectations they set for themselves in the individual event last week, with none of their players progressing beyond the round of 16. The South American side have found redemption in the team event, however, earning a quarter-final berth for the first time with a 2-0 win over Kuwait. They went one better, going into the record books with a brilliant display against five-time champions Pakistan.

Things started poorly for Colombia as Pakistan edged into the lead thanks to a hotly-contested 3-2 win for Abdullah Nawaz, before Juan Torres came from a game down to beat an out of sorts Hamza Khan to send the tie to a decider. In the crucial match, a stop-start and at times bad-tempered encounter, Jose Santamaria proved to be the hero as he fought back from a game down to beat Mohammad Ammad 4-11, 13-12, 11-8, 12-10.

Colombia's coach Martin Knight said afterwards: "I think the emotion out there from the crowd says it all! It was the first time we'd reached the top ten but we weren't content with that. I was fully confident that we could win. As a country, Colombia, we've increased participation, levels and training and we knew coming in that we had a very good team. It didn't go as well as we'd have like in the individual result, but we knew the depth we had and were confident that if we put in a good performance today we'd have every chance."

In the women’s draw, Canada returned to the last four for the first time in 37 years thanks to valiant efforts from twins Spring and Ocean Ma. Spring Ma got the 5/6 seeds off to a dream start with a surprisingly routine win over Tsz Ching Cheung, before Ocean Ma dug in to record a bruising 11-9, 11-5, 9-11, 12-10 victory to the joy - and tears - of her teammates.

The other semi-final will see hosts USA take on Malaysia. USA breezed past England to secure semi-finals for the second year in succession, while Malaysia came through an epic battle with India, with Doyce Lee recovering from 1-2 and 4-9 down in game four to beat Nirupama Dubey 11-7, 7-11, 5-11, 12-10, 11-3.

Results (Women's Quarter-Finals):

Egypt beat New Zealand (2-0):

Nadien Elhammamy beat Anabel romero Gemmell 3-0: 11-6, 11-1, 11-0

Fayrouz Aboelkheir beat Ella Lash 3-0: 11-4, 11-3, 11-5

Janna Swaify w/d Ella Hill

Canada beat Hong Kong, China (2-0):

Spring Ma beat Tsz Ching Cheung 3-0: 11-7, 12-10, 11-4

Ocean Ma beat Ena Kwong 3-1: 11-9, 11-5, 9-11, 12-10

Maria Min w/d Helen Tang

Malaysia beat India (2-1):

Whitney Wilson beat Shameena Riaz 3-0: 11-7, 11-3, 12-10

Thanusaa Uthrian lost to Anahat Singh 2-3: 11-6, 13-15, 6-11, 11-5, 6-11