With the completion of the 2023 WSF World Junior Championships in Melbourne, Australia, the Canadian contingent are back on home soil having gained an invaluable experience in their young squash careers. Over the course of 11 days from July 19-29, 12 Juniors from Squash Canada’s National Junior Squad, participated in the World Junior Individual Championship and Women’s World Junior Team Championship.
For the women in the individual competition, Ananya Maheshwari departed the competition in the round of 128 in her match against Scotland’s Robyn Mcalpine (11-7, 6-11, 7-11, 6-11). In the round of 64, Maria Min lost to Anahat Singh of India [5/8] (11-5, 4-11, 3-11, 2-11); and Spring Ma put on an exhilarating show facing Tiana Parasrampuria of India, exhausting a five-game match that saw Parasrampuria come out on top (7-11, 11-7, 9-11, 11-3, 7-11). In the round of 32, Iman Shaheen fell to Riya Navani of the USA [9/16] (9-11, 8-11, 5-11); and Ocean Ma was bested by Amina Orfi of Egypt (4-11, 2-11, 1-11), the number one seed who went on to win the World Championship.
For the men in the individual competition, Michael Knapp fell to Paarth Ambani of India (11-13, 6-11, 9-11) in the round of 128. Departing in the round of 64, Faazil Khan fell to Salman Khalil of Egypt [5/8] (5-11, 4-11, 10-12); Daniel Deverill lost to Mohamed Zakaria of Egypt [3/4] (1-11, 2-11, 5-11); and Wasey Maqsood was surpassed by Mohammad Hamza Khan of Pakistan [3/4] (3-11, 4-11, 8-11), who went on to claim the World Championship. Jacob Lin, who made it to the round of 32, was bested by Egypt’s Kareem El Torkey [9/16] (4-11, 2-11, 4-11).
For the women’s team event, Canada was placed in Group A with Egypt and Scotland. With a loss to Egypt (0-3) and win against Scotland (2-1) in the group stage, the Canadian Junior women advanced to the quarter finals where they were defeated byMalaysia (0-2). Playing for 5th through 8th, the team succeeded over India (3-0) and lost to Hong Kong (0-2), ending in 6th place.
The contingent was comprised of:
Junior Women
- Ananya Maheshwari (ON)
- Hermione Cao (BC)
- Iman Shaheen (ON)
- Maria Min (BC)
- Ocean Ma (BC)
- Spring Ma (BC)
Junior Men
- Daniel Deverill (ON)
- Faazil Khan (ON)
- Jacob Lin (BC)
- Michael Knapp (AB)
- Wasey Maqsood (ON)
- Youssef Sarhan (QC)
Iman Shaheen, Maria Min, Ocean Ma, and Spring Ma represented Canada in the Team Championships.
The Juniors were coached by Victoria Lust and Tyler Osborne.
“It has been a pleasure to work alongside Tyler with this amazing group of young athletes. The first week of competition was the individual event, where we were handed some tough seedings, despite this our athletes all put in strong individual performances. It was great to see how our Canadian juniors matched up against the worlds best and the future is bright with a large majority of our players still being in age for next year’s event.
We placed 6th in the team event, beating our seeding of 7th. Considering the strength and depth of the women’s draw, we were very happy with our finish. Big congratulations to Ocean, Spring, Maria and Iman on representing Canada so wonderfully throughout the tournament.” – Victoria Lust, Coach
For full results, please check individual or team event results pages.
