Canadians Results from the Scottish and British Junior Opens

Ottawa, ON (January 9, 2020) — After nearly two weeks in the UK, and a total of eight days of intense competition, our junior Canadian players have returned from the Scottish and British Junior Open Tour.  21 Canadians competed in Edinburgh from December 28^th-30^th, 2019 at the Scottish Junior Open and in Birmingham from January 2^nd-6^th, 2020 at the British Junior Open.

National Junior Coach, Jonathan Hill, accompanied the Canadian squad at the tournaments for the 12^th time, meeting them first in Edinburgh. The Canadians met with success at the event, capturing two medals and achieving other top finishes.

Veera Dhaliwal won the Girls U11 category after sweeping the competition 3-0 in all of her matches. Amal Izhar won Silver in Girls U17, further adding to the successful season she has had so far. Her medal at the Scottish comes on the heels of her 2^nd place finishes at both the 2019 European Junior Open and the 2019 Canadian Junior Open. “In both Scottish and British Junior championships every match was challenging,” said Amal. “Playing back to back tough matches was tiring, but a great learning experience. I am happy that I made it to the finals of the Scottish, and won some tough 5 gamers in the British against much experienced players; however, I plan to train harder to get even better results next time. I am grateful for all the support from Squash Canada, Squash Ontario, my coaches, sponsors and team mates, who have helped make this trip a memorable experience.”

Amal’s brother, Arham Izhar, also had a great tournament, surpassing his 5/8 seeding and finishing 4^th. Ananya Maheshwari also finished 4^th in Girls U15.

The team then travelled to Birmingham for the British Junior Open, meeting up with more Canadian juniors who had just arrived at the British. Canadian Hollie Naughton, currently ranked 29^th in the PSA World Rankings, and Nadeem Izhar joined Jonathan in coaching the Canadian squad.

Jacob Lin made Canada proud by surpassing his 17/32 seeding and finishing an amazing 6^th place in Boys U15. He took out several higher-seeded players throughout the event, and nearly finished 5^th, losing a close five-setter in his last match. Iman Shaheen finished highest amongst the Canadian girls, ending her event in 21^st place after defeating 17/32 seed Sashmini Chandran in four games. Nikhil Ismail wasn’t seeded, and yet finished an impressive 35/36^th place in a tough Boys U19 draw of nearly a hundred players.

“I tried to keep it simple on court, but every match turned out to be a battle.  I believed in myself: I got this. Hit nicks.” — Jacob Lin, 6th Place Finish in Boys U15

“This is our 2nd consecutive year of doing a collaborative Canadian tour for the Scottish and British Junior Open’s,” said National Junior Coach, Jonathan Hill. “The Scottish junior Open provided a great warm up to the players who competed in that event and with the shift of that event before the British Junior Open again, the standard is getting higher each year. The British Junior Open brings in each countries best juniors allowing our Canadian players to see what their level is on the biggest International Junior stage and to compete against a variety of styles and levels of players. We will certainly be doing this tour again next year and keep the momentum going.”

Congratulations to all the Canadian juniors who participated!

2019 Scottish Junior Open Full Results: https://esf.tournamentsoftware.com/sport/winners.aspx?id=1FFDF779-3FF5-45F9-9978-F7EFF35D8F8E
2020 British Junior Open Full Results: https://esf.tournamentsoftware.com/sport/winners.aspx?id=AF39C5C1-D2EA-4925-AB2D-618AD27983D3