Canadian Jr Women at Squash Worlds 2009

Photos from the 2009 Junior Women's World Championships

2009-09-16T07:12:00.000-07:00

Canada wins final match, places fifth at women’s world junior squash championships

2009-08-09T15:35:00.000-07:00

Laura Gemmell of Toronto and Samantha Cornett of Ottawa won their matches in straight games as Canada defeated England 2-0 to place fifth in the team competition at the women's world junior squash championships.

For the full story ... http://www.squash.ca/e/story_detail.cfm?id=2270

2009-08-06T22:40:00.000-07:00

It’s been a tough couple days for your girls. We started out killer on Monday and Tuesday, but Wednesday and Thursday we fell just short each matchup.
Monday we cleaned up against Spain, only dropping one game. Same goes for Tuesday against South Africa.
Wednesday was the last match in our pool against the USA. Sam went out first, easily taking two games off Sobhy, but she didn’t have enough left to finish her off and lost in five. Laura followed, kicking Blatchford in three straight. Then Jen went on against Cerullo and had three close games, unfortunately none of them going in our favour.
On to Thursday, which had a similarly painful ending. Sam beat Reddy in 4 games, then Laura lost to Pallikal in 3. In the end, the deciding match was Jen, who battled hard, but lost in 4, despite having sucked the very aggressive Misra into her game style.
Today we play New Zealand, and we are going to go out hard.
Cross your fingers!

Canada advances to Quarter finals, but falls to USA in last pool match

2009-08-05T11:55:00.000-07:00

CHENNAI, India – Canada lost 2-1 to the U.S., in its final round robin match Wednesday at the women’s world junior squash championships to finish second in its pool and advance to the quarterfinals in the team event.

For the full story: http://www.squash.ca/e/story_detail.cfm?id=2265

Canada beats Spain and South Africa in qualifyiing rounds at World Junior Squash Championships

2009-08-05T06:17:00.000-07:00

All eight top seeds have recorded two wins out of two over the first two days of qualifying action in the Women's World Junior Team Squash Championships at the Indian Squash Academy in Chennai.

For full story .... http://www.squash.ca/e/story_detail.cfm?id=2264

Canada wins opening match

2009-08-04T06:12:00.000-07:00

Samantha Cornett of Ottawa, Danielle Letourneau of Calgary and Jennifer Pelletier of Richmond Hill, Ont., led Canada to a 3-0 victory over Spain on Monday in its opening match in round robin play at the women's world junior squash championships.

For the full story ... http://www.squash.ca/e/story_detail.cfm?id=2262

Now for the Team Event

2009-08-02T04:03:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone back home. The Individuals are finished and there were many ups and downs for all of us. Laura was the last woman standing for the Canadian team. She played Nada Elkalaawy from Egypt in the Classic Plate Final and won the match 3-1.
After getting a little bit of much needed rest, the remaining three players of our National team are getting ready for the Teams event that starts on Monday. Team Canada has been deemed fourth seed, sitting behind Egypt, India and Malaysia. We are still one position above the USA. Keep following Team Canada as this Worlds will be one for the books!

Opening Ceremonies and Beyond!

2009-07-30T04:37:00.000-07:00

And so, the World Junior Squash Championships have begun. The opening ceremonies happened last night, with speeches and good lucks from many important people, and lots of jokes. One of the ministers deemed us all fighters on the court, and not off, wishing it could be the same throughout the world. The media was there in droves, which was awesome. We took pictures of them taking pictures, there were so many!
This semi-formal event was very classy, some in suits, some in prom-style dresses, and the German girls were kicking it old school in traditional dresses. Obviously we looked great in matching red dresses and white shoes. Don’t worry; we are representing you all well! Glenn and Jess (Gless) both looked sharp as well, effervescent one might say. In the end, the ice cream with chocolate chips in the buffet topped the night off nicely.
Today, we all played. Danielle and Jen played in the morning, forcing the team to get up early. Just kidding, it was awesome cheering them on. Jen played first, coming out strong and taking the first game, but falling to France’s Lecoq in 4. Danielle then took on Garcia from Spain, and with a ton of great volleys she took her down in 3. In the afternoon, Sam played Tucker from South Africa and played very strong squash to win in 3. Laura was next, taking down Pranjpe from India in 3 games. Danielle played for the second time of the day against India’s Reddy, finishing the day with a strong match, but unfortunately losing in 4 close games.
Everyone is looking forward to tomorrow, ready to show them all just what we’re made of!
Go Team!!

Follow the 2009 Junior Women's World Championships on Twitter!

2009-07-29T08:49:00.001-07:00

Hi Everyone,

Not only will you be able to see reports from Chennai here on the Junior Women's National Team blog, you can also follow all of Canada's results on Twitter at www.twitter.com/squashcanada. and you can follow all the results and media releases for the event on squashsite.co.uk here: http://www.squashsite.co.uk/worldjuniors/index.htm

Squash Canada

Finally Here!

2009-07-26T23:01:00.000-07:00

Hello Everyone!
It’s Team Canada reporting live from Chennai, India! We arrived here late Wednesday night to busy streets, crazy driving, and extreme heat. So far we’ve explored temples, rode elephants, and saw snakes and crocodiles in captivity. It’s a complete culture shock and we actually decided to buy sarees the first day in an attempt to “blend” in. People still stare and chuckle, but we think we look good. Even though our days have been very busy with tourist activities, we still have been training hard every day on court. The courts here are very different from the courts we all are used to back home. The first couple of days of training there was no air conditioning and we were all dripping with sweat during the warm up! But fear not fans, us Canadian girls are fit! Hope all is well back in Canada and you are enjoying Canadian summer weather, which we have been told is equivalent to Indian winter!
Team Canada

Canada Seeded 3rd for Junior Women's Worlds Team Event

2009-07-20T09:00:00.001-07:00

Egypt, three-time winners of the trophy since 1999, are seeded to retain the Women's World Junior Team Squash Championship title in India next month - according to the interim seedings for the event announced today by the World Squash Federation. Seeded third, Canada are expected to record their highest-ever finish in 12 appearances since the inaugural event in 1985

For the full article ... http://www.squash.ca/e/story_detail.cfm?id=2241

We're down to 50 hours before departure

2009-07-19T17:59:00.001-07:00

Friday was a big day for Team Canada. Our first real challenge together as a team: picking an off court outfit everyone liked. Exhausted and hungry after walking around the entire mall 3 times, we made some compromises and settled on a cute dress and shoes, then went for dinner at the Pickle Barrel for the second night in a row. Both nights it entertained and delighted us to find Jess’s photo in the menu, playing squash!

Now, after a weekend of matches, the team is sore and looking forward to a day or two off squash (Harry Potter must be seen prior to departure). Seanna Keating, Marnie Baizley, and Eric Baldwin came to run us around in our practice tournament. Greatly appreciated! I know I’ll be looking for a rematch once we’re home.

Count down: 50 hours

P.S. check out squashsite.co.uk where it says that Canada has been given a tentative seeding of 3!!

By: Sam Cornett

100 hours to go

2009-07-16T20:39:00.000-07:00

Hello fans! Our journey has begun here in Toronto, where Jess is preparing the girls for a World Championship. Training is tough; we are focusing on particular skills every day, followed by ridiculously difficult fitness sessions post-squash. And some slip ‘n’ slide to cool down at the end of a long day’s work. A nice dinner Thursday night was a good way to bond and relax a bit, plus we got to visit with Coach Leah’s little guy Carter! Back on court, the energy and intensity is high, and everyone here is getting more excited every day. Count down: 5 days, approximately 100 hours.

By: Sam Cornett

Canada names strong team for women's world junior championships

2009-07-06T19:15:00.000-07:00

OTTAWA- Squash Canada announced today that Laura Gemmell of Toronto, Samantha Cornett of Ottawa, Jennifer Pelletier of Richmond Hill, Ont., and Danielle Letourneau of Calgary have be named to the Canadian team for the women’s world junior squash championships. he junior worlds are scheduled for July 29-August 8 in Chennai, India.

The junior worlds are scheduled for July 29-August 8 in Chennai, India.The individual tournament runs from July 29 to August 2 and the team tournament from August 3-8.

Gemmell, 18, is one of Canada’s most successful junior players of all time and is seeded third in the individual tournament. She’s won the national under-19 title four years in a row and was a member of the last two world junior squads helping Canada to seventh place and near upset of second-seed Britain in the team event in 2007 and sixth place in 2005. Gemmell advanced to the fourth round in individual play at the 2007 world juniors.

“Laura can challenge for a medal in the individual event this year,” said Canada’s junior national women’s coach Glenn Stark of Calgary. ‘’She`s coming off two exceptional tournaments in Britain (including a third place at the British Junior Open) and has played these girls before.’’

http://www.squash.ca/e/story_detail.cfm?id=2232

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

2009-06-23T07:16:00.000-07:00

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

Junior Women's World Championships History

2009-06-17T12:55:00.000-07:00

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 .

Watch for this Blog!

2009-06-16T20:25:00.000-07:00

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.