Women’s Junior World Championships – 19th – 29th July

The team is  Lily Lloyd, Emma Lundy, Ellie McVeigh, Laura Neill with Coach Ed Dunne & manager Deirdre Byrne. Good luck to the team over the next 2 weeks.

A super opening ceremony watch it HERE

Egypt clean sweep of the World Junior Squash Championship in Tauranga

Jim Kayes reports

Egypt have completed a clean sweep of the World Junior Squash Championship for the first time since 2013 with Rowan El Araby winning the women’s and Marwan Tarek the men’s.

El Araby, 16, was runner up in Poland last year after beating Hania El Hammamy in the semi-finals, but became a champion in Tauranga today with a dominant 3-0 win against the countrywoman El Hammamy, the top seed.

“I am so happy. I worked so hard for this title after coming second in Poland last year,” El Araby said. “It’s difficult playing another Egyptian but there are no friends on the court and I worked hard to stay calm.”

She was a picture of composure as she led in each game and held firm as El Hammamy tried to rally, but never really go her game going, El Araby winning 11-7, 11-9, 11-8.

“I didn’t expect it to be three-nil. All the matches I play against Hania are normally close. This is just amazing. I’m sorry, I don’t really have many words right now.”

Tarek, 17, was just as lost for words after his five game victory over Victor Crouin, bidding to become the first ever French winner.

“I can’t think right now, I’m the world champion, I’m the world champion,” he said repeatedly, while high fiving his coaches and teammates. “Dreams do come true.”

None of the five games were in doubt, Tarek winning the first and third games with some comfort, Crouin taking the second and fourth in even more emphatic fashion After losing the first point in the decider Tarek reeled off eight points in a row before winning 11-2.

Tarek revealed he was feeling the effects of his semifinal win against top seed Youssef Ibrahim. “I wasn’t 100 percent ready. My body was weak but this is the world championships and you have to survive.”

It was the first time since 2013 that an Egyptian has won the men’s junior title while El Araby’s success is the seventh successive title for an Egyptian female.

Day Five – Semi-finals

2 days ago 2017, News, TODAY, TOP STORY

Day 4 – Top seeds survive in Tauranga

A dramatic quarter-finals day of the WSF World Juniors in Tauranga saw both Egyptian top seeds survive five game battles as the seeded players prevailed in seven of the eight matches.

Men’s top seed Youssef Ibrahim looked to have put his nerve early performances behind him as he took a two-game lead over Andrew Douglas, but the American fought back to lead 9-7 in a tense decider before Ibrahim took the last three points to his, and the Egyptian camp’s delight.

He’ll meet compatriot Marwan Tarek after the 3/4 seed came from a game down to beat India’s Abhay Singh.

In the bottom half of the draw both Egyptians who made the quarter-final against the seedings were beaten in straight games – second seed Mohammed Alsarraj from Jordan beat Mostafa Assal to set up a semi-final with France’ European Champion Victor Crouin, who despatched unseeded Aly Hussain in the opening match of the day.

The women’s matches started with an all-Egyptian match, and a big seedeng upset, which saw 5/8 seed Amina Yousryovercome second seed Zeina Mickawy in three close games – gaining a measure of revenge for her epic loss in the British Juniors early in the year.

She faces another Egyptian opponent in the semis after 2016 finalist Rowan Elaraby prevailed in a see-saw five-setter against Malaysia’s Andrea Lee.

The top half of the draw witnessed two more five game thrillers as Japan’s Satomi Watanabe eventually denied 14-year-old American prodigy Marina Stefanoni, and top seed Hania El Hammamy had to come from two-one down to see off the challenge of Malasia’s Sivasangari Subramanian, racing through the fifth 11/1.

Day 3 – The quarter-finalists were decided today in Tauranga, with twelve matches on the Glass Court at QEYC and four on Devoy Court one, and there was also a full complement of plate matches.

Four of each for Egypt as
Stefanoni boosts US interest

While Egyptians continued to dominate the women’s draw, with four of their players going through as expected, the big upset came when USA’s Marina Stefanoni, a 9/16 seed, ousted 3/4 seed Nada Abbas in four games of quality and enthralling squash. The remaining seven top seeds all progressed, with only Egypt’s Amina Yousry dropping a game.

Egypt will provide a quarter of men’s quarter-finalists too – one in each of tomorrow’s matches – but two of those came through with upset wins – Auseeded Aly Hussain continued to impress as he beat India’s Adhitya Raghavan in five, while Mostafa Asalalso overcame a 5/8 seed as he beat Kyle Finch, leaving England with no quarter-final representatives.

Top seed Youssef Ibrahim survived a fierce challenge from Malaysian Ong Sai Hung in five games whule second seed Mohamed Alsarraj, enjoying his first outing on the glass court, ended the run of surprise Colombian Matias Knudsen. Quarter-finals are all on the QEYC Glass Court, starting at 11.00 (local time) on Saturday.

The Irish players playing in the plate event played 2 Australians and 2 New Zealanders. Unfortunately there were no wins so they each have player their 3 matches and now await the team event whivh starts next Tuesday. For some video of today’s matches of the Irish players, go to – https://twitter.com/irishsquash?lang=en

Laura Neill played New Zealand’s Anna Hughes.

Emma Lundy played Courtney Mather from Australia

For results for the Irish players go

For all the results and the draw go HERE

LIVE STREAMING is also available on the WSF Junior Championships website

In the spring of 1964, a previously unfocused 23-year old part-time squash player simply decided to become the World Squash Champion. Just 30 months later, Jonah Barrington astonished the squash world by winning the 1967 British Open title. And he went on to win six British Open titles in seven years. 

Under the expert guidance of the renowned Pakistani squash coach, Nasrullah Khan, Barrington’s single-mindedness, punishing fitness routine and ground-breaking approach to gaining the ball skills required to make it to the top transformed not just his own life, but the future of squash, and in no small way paved the way for the modern squash player. 

As an Englishman with an Irish mother, Barrington spent much of his youth in Ireland, first in Headford School and later attending Trinity College, Dublin. 

In this first authorised hour-long documentary examining Jonah’s unusual background, his rise through the ranks and his remarkable impact on the game, there are live interviews with Jonah himself as well as with many past and present squash legends. 

By clicking on the image/link below you can choose the downloadable or the DVD version. A percentage of all proceeds generated from the download and DVD sales go to the Irish Squash Federation to support the development of our great game at junior level in Ireland.

In the spring of 1964, a previously unfocused 23-year old part-time squash player simply decided to become the World Squash Champion. Just 30 months later, Jonah Barrington astonished the squash world by winning the 1967 British Open title. And he went on to win six British Open titles in seven years. 

Under the expert guidance of the renowned Pakistani squash coach, Nasrullah Khan, Barrington’s single-mindedness, punishing fitness routine and ground-breaking approach to gaining the ball skills required to make it to the top transformed not just his own life, but the future of squash, and in no small way paved the way for the modern squash player. 

As an Englishman with an Irish mother, Barrington spent much of his youth in Ireland, first in Headford School and later attending Trinity College, Dublin. 

In this first authorised hour-long documentary examining Jonah’s unusual background, his rise through the ranks and his remarkable impact on the game, there are live interviews with Jonah himself as well as with many past and present squash legends. 

By clicking on the image/link below you can choose the downloadable or the DVD version. A percentage of all proceeds generated from the download and DVD sales go to the Irish Squash Federation to support the development of our great game at junior level in Ireland.

Mount Pleasant will host a number of squash camps this summer.

European Ref – A Week In The Life

4 days, 15 ties, 33 matches, 1942 points scored.

My trip to this year’s European Team Championships held in Helsinki during the last week of April could be summarised in the above sentence – and yet the reality is always much more than just the bare facts and figures that the paper trail leaves behind.

The annual overdose of squash that is the Euro’s is a huge event – for many of those taking part it is the highlight of their year (if not their career) and it also comes at the end of a long and often arduous season – and I’m just talking about the referees here!

But seriously, it is an intense 4 days of squash for all those concerned. The players are representing their countries and fighting hard for every point as finishing positions are often crucial for national funding, never mind pride. On top of that, the event is used as the only regular assessment tool for referees to be put under the spotlight and our performances monitored – as if the players didn’t put enough pressure on us already!

I have now been a part of 8 European Team Championships along with 2 Mens World Teams, 2 Individual World Juniors, 3 European Individual Championships and many PSA and national competitions and I still get those butterflies in my stomach at the start of each match. It’s like Forrest Gump’s momma’s box of chocolates – you never know what you’re going to get. But what you can gurantee is that over the course of the 4 days you are going to see copious amounts of sweat, possibly some blood and more than likely a tear or two.

You are also going to see players push themselves to their very limits and sometimes beyond as they find that extra something that only seems to come to the surface when they are playing under their national flag. This year, two of the matches I reffed stood out for me as being examples of all that is good about squash – and this particular tournament:

In the mens division 1 playoff group, the local hero Olli Tuominen, ranked 48 in the world and 38 years old was playing against Nicolas Mueller (rank 34, age 28). Nicolas went 2 games up – but the veteran was not going down without a fight and only after 64 minutes of gruelling squash did the Swiss player come out the winner in the fifth.

In the ladies division 2 playoffs, Tinne Gilis from Belgium was playing Zuzana Kubanova from the Czech Republic. Tinne is 75 in the world at 19 yrs old – 35 places ahead of her opponent and 14 years younger – and yet, after 70 minutes of thrilling squash and great athleticism it was the elder Czech who emerged victorious.

Both these matches were significant as they were at a crucial time in the tournament and final placings and possible relegation to lower divisions were at stake – and yet, despite the pressure on the players and the extremely competitive nature of the games, there were only 11 decisions in the ladies and 10 in the mens! I felt privileged to have been there to witness them up close – never mind be a part of the action.

Along with all the squash, there is a major social aspect to the Euro’s. For many of the amateur players involved it is often the only time they get to see many of their counterparts. As a referee, it is a chance for me to meet up again with other refs from around Europe who I may have worked with before – and also to make new friends and acquaintances. It is definitely hard work – the days are long, tiring and frequently stressful – but we get to see some of the best players in the world in one of the largest squash tournaments in the world – I wouldn’t miss it!

Joe Ruddy