Canada well-represented at upcoming Scottish and British Junior Opens

Canada will be well represented again this year at the upcoming Scottish and British Junior Open events.  A total of 24 Canadians will be competing in Edinburgh, from December 28^th-30^th, 2019 for the Scottish Junior Open and Birmingham, from January 2^nd-6^th, 2020 for the British Junior Open.  This is the second consecutive year that Squash Canada has helped to orchestrate this tour as part of a National strategy.

National Junior Coach, Jonathan Hill, will be accompanying the Canadian squad at the two events for the 12^th time. He recently led our Junior Women’s Team to a Gold Medal finish at the 2019 Pan American Junior Squash Championships, and a 9^th place finish at the 2019 World Junior Squash Championships. Working alongside Jonathan will be Canada’s Hollie Naughton, who is currently ranked 29^th in the PSA World Rankings. Hollie’s experience playing on the international stage as a High Performance Junior and Jonathan’s many years of coaching experience make the two a great team to lead and mentor our Canadian athletes.

Canada has players in almost every age category from Under 11 to Under 19, who are all looking to gain valuable international experience and good results at the two championships. Nikhil Ismail, who will be competing in the British Junior Open, is the reigning Canadian Boys U17 Champion and is currently ranked number one in Canada for his age group. He won a silver medal at the 2019 European Junior Open and recently placed 5^th at the 2019 Canadian Junior Open.

Jacob Lin is Canada’s most recent Boys U15 National Champion and recently finished an impressive 9^th place at the 2019 US Junior Open. He will be looking to have similar success at the British Junior Open.

Iman Shaheen has been making waves in the squash scene over the past couple years. She continues to show improvement with every event that she competes in, winning her first Canadian Junior Open title in Girls U15 this month without dropping a single game. She recently finished 6^th place at the 2019 US Junior Open, which was Canada’s best result.

Amal Izhar is another rising star, capturing a Silver Medal in Girls U15 at the 2019 Canadian Junior Open. Amal upset some top seeds at the 2019 European Junior Open, where she surpassed her 5/8 seeding and finished in Second Place in Girls U15. She recently aged up into Girls U17 and is currently ranked fifth in the country.

“I am very excited to see many of our top juniors from Canada at these events and I’m looking forward to watching them play and working with them,” said Jonathan Hill. “We have a few of our top under 19 boys at the British Junior Open who are also vying for positions for the Junior Men’s World’s this summer in Australia. I think it is important for our top players to see where they stand on this International stage in preparation for the World’s this summer. The British Junior Open is where every top player from each country competes in and gives us a chance to watch some of the players from other countries in terms of preparation for the Canadian Junior Team at future World’s”.
We look forward to supporting our talented athletes from Canada!