Source: Christine Mehta
Wroclaw, Poland (July 25, 2013) – The Canadian Girls Squash Team lost their quarter-final match today against Egypt at the 2013 World Squash Junior Championships in Wroclaw, Poland. The Canadian squad of Alyssa Mehta, Sophie Mehta, and Chloe Chemtob were swept 3-0 in the singles matches against the top seed and powerhouse Egyptian team.
Source: Christine Mehta
Wroclaw, Poland (July 25, 2013) – The Canadian Girls Squash Team lost their quarter-final match today against Egypt at the 2013 World Squash Junior Championships in Wroclaw, Poland. The Canadian squad of Alyssa Mehta, Sophie Mehta, and Chloe Chemtob were swept 3-0 in the singles matches against the top seed and powerhouse Egyptian team.
Already coming into the tournament as the three-time defending champions, the 2013 Egyptian girls’ team has somehow managed to assert an even higher level of supremacy. In the girls’ individual competition earlier at the event, all four semi-finalists were Egyptians and Egyptian number one Nour El Sherbini won her 2nd consecutive title, which was the 7th individual title in the last eight years for Egypt. Such is the level of Egyptian dominance that in their first four matches, Egypt has yet to lose a single game; a perfect 35-0. Canada was drawn the inevitable job of trying to withstand the Egyptians in the quarter-finals and this task was made even more difficult with Canadian number one Hollie Naughton sitting out to rest an injury.
Alyssa Mehta was first up for Canada and was pitted against the great El Sherbini. Mehta put forth a game effort but succumbed to the World Junior Champion 11-6, 11-2, 11-8. Alyssa’s younger sister Sophie then had the task of trying to keep Canada alive by beating Nouran Gohar. Sophie played a strong first game but Gohar pulled it out 11-9. From there, and as is often the case when playing the Egyptians, Gohar was simply too strong, surging to a 11-9, 11-3, 11-5 victory and clinching a spot in the semi-finals for Egypt. With the outcome no longer in doubt, Chemtob and Mariam Ibrahim Metwaly played a best-of-three game match instead of the usual best-of-five, with Metwaly winning in straight games, 11-9, 11-6.
While every loss is disappointing, the match against Egypt could prove to be a valuable learning experience for the youthful Canadian squad. In a tournament that features the best under-19 squash players in the world, Sophie Mehta and Chloe Chemtob are just 15 years of age, and both will be eligible to represent Canada again in two years’ time on what is sure to be a promising Canadian team.
The loss against Egypt eliminates Canada from medal contention but Canada can still finish as high as 5th place in the tournament as they entire the consolation bracket. Canada will play India on Thursday for a spot in the 5th place match. The matches against India can be seen live at 9:00am EST at http://nasquasha.pl/filmy/1777-world-squash-junior-championships-2013-live
About the World Squash Junior Championships
The World Squash Junior Championships is an annual squash championship that is contested by the top under-19 squash players in the world. Competitions are conducted in three categories: girls, boys and teams. The team competition alternates every year between girls and boys with 2013 featuring the girls’ team event. The 2013 team competition features squads from 16 countries grouped into four pools of four. For each fixture, competing countries select three team members to compete in a best of three singles format against the opposition. The top two teams from each pool advance to the quarterfinals where a standard playoff elimination format is used.