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It took just 45 minutes for Habiba Aly mohmed and Nour El-Sherbini to win the first two matches in the final of the WSF Women’s World Junior Team Championship, taking Egypt into the record books after winning the World Squash Federation title for a historic fourth successive time.
The tie against second seeds US, a repeat of the previous final two years ago, brought to a climax 12 days of action at the 20-court Hasta La Vista Club in Wroclaw, which featured more than 160 players from a record 37 nations competing in the first ever staging of the Men’s & Women’s World Junior Individual Championships and the Women’s World Junior Team Championship in Poland.
Habiba Mohamed, 14, from Alexandria, put Egypt ahead after defeating Reeham Sedky 11-4, 11-2, 11-5 in a 26-minute battle between the team’s third strings.
It was perhaps fitting that squad number one Nour El Sherbini should then dispatch Sabrina Sobhy in her quickest recorded match in 11 successive wins at the Hasta La Vista Club, beating her US counterpart 11-5, 11-6, 11-3 in just 19 minutes to clinch the historic title for her country.
It was only six days earlier that El-Sherbini,17, the world No11 from Alexandria, made history for herself in Wroclaw by becoming the first ever player to win a world junior individual title for a third time.
“I’ve never ever seen a team like this one,” said Egypt coach Cherine Adel. “Each and every player here deserves praise and great respect for their wonderful performance.”
The success represented a clean sweep of world junior titles for Egypt in Poland, where Cairo’s Karim Elhammamy, 17, also won the Men’s World Junior Championship trophy.
In the bronze medal play-off, fourth seeds Hong Kong upset former champions England, the third seeds, 2/0 after Ho Tze-Lok and Ho Ka Po prevailed in five-game clashes against Lily Taylor and Victoria Temple Murray, respectively.
There was also an upset in the play-off for fifth place when seventh seeds Canada beat fifth seeds Malaysia 2/0 to record their best finish since 2009.
The day’s most dramatic tie saw India win seventh place after claiming a narrow 2/1 victory over New Zealand, second string Lakshya Ragavendran clinching the win after twice coming from behind to overcome Kiwi Rebecca Barnett 9-11, 16-14, 10-12, 12-10, 11-9 in the decider.
In only their third appearance in the championship, Japan exceeded their seeding by upsetting tenth seeds France 2/1 in the play-off for ninth place to record their best ever finish.
Colombia recorded the highest finish of the three nations competing in the event for the first time, taking tenth place after losing 2/1 to ninth seeds Australia.
Fellow championship debutants Czech Republic and hosts Poland finished in 13th and 16th places, respectively.
