Saturday update at Junior Worlds

The Junior Squash World’s - An Update
The semi finals have just been completed in the women’s side and the 2nd men’s semi is underway. The story line can be summed up as:
· Women’s seeds fall to youth.
o A 13 and 16 year old are in battling in the finals and both are from Egypt.
· Men are on seed
o The #1 (from Egypt) and #2 seed (from Malaysia) are meeting tomorrow for the men’s championships.
On the technical side it was all superb squash. This is especially impressive since the conditions are tough. India is a land of humidity and high temperatures which make drops shots and touch very tough to execute effectively.
The Egyptians continue to dominate both the men’s and women’s draws with many players in the top 8 positions. They play short fast rallies and attack with drops and boasts on every rally. They hit tight drops from all over the court. Their error rate is very low and the shot selection is excellent with multiple different unexpected choices from all over the court. They counter attack very effectively with tight, tight drops, drives and occasionally some great lobs. This keeps their opponents off guard and wondering what will happen next. Sam lost to Nour in the round of 16 and her comment was: “she is tricky”.
The Egyptians are clearly on the top of the heap. Where did the Canadians end up?
As mentioned above, Sam went the farthest in the main draw. She beat the top South African and then the top English player in a very tough match in the round of 32. Then she had a good game in the round of 16 and lost to the Egyptian Nour 3-0 and Nour is now in the final.
Laura Gemmell was defeated 3-1 in the round of 32 by a red hot American, Amanda Sohbey. Amanda has been playing very well lately in WISPA tournaments and probably should have been seeded higher in the draw. Laura is now playing in the semis of the plate after subsequent wins against Indian and South African opponents. We hope that she will be in the plate final tomorrow.
Daniele Letourneau won both her first two matches and then lost in the round of 32. She has definitely benefitted from playing more top women at this tournament in one week than are available to play in Calgary back home.
Jen Pelletier and Michelle Gemmell both lost in the first round of the main draw and then won some matches in the consolations. However, like in Sam’s case, they do not play out any of the matches and once you have lost in a third round you are finished. Not even the 3/4 positions are played out.
There were no Canadians in the Jr men’s draw so there is nothing to report on that front. We will give you a report after the finals. In parallel, the Canadian women will begin their preparation for the team event.