Tuesday, June 23, 2009

Draws set for Junior Men's and Women's World Individual Championships

Squash Canada received the draws this morning for the junior men's and women's individual championships, to be played July 29 - August 2, 2009 in Chennai, India. The draws are still subject to change as countries are still finalizing their teams for the team championships.

Canada's Laura Gemmell (Toronto ON) is looking to challenge for top spot and will be seeded 3rd in the event behind India's Dipika Pallikal and Egypt's Heba El Torky. This will be Laura's 3rd world individual championships, her highest finish came in 2007 where she finished 9/16. Samantha Cornett of Ottawa ON is seeded 9/16. No other Canadians are seeded.

On the men's side the top seed will be Mohamed El Shorbagy of Egypt, followed by Ivan Yuen of Malaysia. Canada's only entry into the men's draw is Toronot's Arjun Gupta. Arjun is a current junior men's national squad member and particpated in the 2008 Junior men's World Individual Championships in Switzerland.

Full coverage of the championships can be found here: http://www.squashsite.co.uk/2009/world_juniors_09.htm

Wednesday, June 17, 2009

Junior Women's World Championships History

The Junior Women's World Championships officially began in 1981 in Canada, with an individual event won by Lisa Opie of England. 4 years later in Ireland (1985) the event expanded to include an individual and team event. In the first Junior Women's World Team Championships Australia defeated England. From 1985 - 1997 the title was won by England 4 times and Australia 3 times, it was not until 1999, when Egypt won, that a country other than England or Australia held the world champions title.

The previous championships in 2007 in Hong Kong saw team Canada finish 7th, with Laura Gemmell finishing 9/16 in the individual event. To date, Canada's best finish at the championships was 4th in 1987 in England. Canada's top finisher in the individual event is Runa Reta who finished 5/8 at the 1999 championships in Belguim, losing to current world #1 Nicole David in the quater finals.

Going into 2009, Egypt holds both the team and individual world titles, but will have their hands full with 2007 runners up Malaysia, 4th place finishers Hong Kong and an experienced Canadian delegation.

The individual event favorite is India's Dipika Pallikal, while Canada's top contender is expected to be Laura Gemmell who will challenge for a top 3 finish.

Get all the stories for the championships on this blog and at www.squash.ca .

Tuesday, June 16, 2009

Watch for this Blog!

Squash Canada will send a team of four women to the Junior Women's World Squash Championships in Chennai, India, from July 29 to August 8, 2009. The team will blog to this space on a regular basis.