Ashour makes it two in a row
Egyptian Ramy Ashour has created squash history tonight when he became the
first player ever to win two consecutive World Junior titles, defeating
fellow country-man Omar Mossad in straight sets 9-1 9-3 9-1.
The all Egypt final was a display of power-squash by Ashour who showed his
class with some killer shots that simply shut Mossad out of the match.
Three other finals were also played today with Australian Zac Alexander
defeating American Mart Froot – 5-9 9-5 9-0 10-9 in the Plate final, Chris
Tasker Grindly of England went down
9-6 2-9 2-9 1-9 to Omar Tarek Maham Aly of Egypt in the Classic Plate; and
New Zealand’s Cameron Jamieson lost in straight sets 9-4 9-6 9-7 to Chris
O’Kane of Ireland.
The final, held in Palmerston North New Zealand, was witnessed by a full
house at the 1300 seat Arena Manawatu stadium and played on a full glass
championship court.
Egyptian Omar Mossad will meet fellow countryman,
Ramy Ashour in the final
World Junior
Championship To Climax In All-Egyptian Final
The final of the Prince
Men's World Junior Squash Championship will be an all-Egyptian affair,
with top seed Ramy Ashour facing surpriseopponent Omar
Mosaad, the third seed, in Saturday's climax in Palmerston North,
New Zealand.
Ashour, the title-holder,
dropped his first game of the tournament against fellow countryman
Tarek Momen, giving the large crowd just a hint of an upset after
trailing one-love after the first. However, the 18-year-old from Cairo
reclaimed the advantage in the second game and went on to win convincingly
7-9 9-3 9-1 9-4 in 58 minutes.
Ashour admitted afterwards
that the first game was a wake-up call which sparked him into action: “I
could tell straight away that Tarek was at the peak of his game and I had
to call on all my skills to get back on top. There was no way I was going
to let myself be beaten in the semi!”
In the other semi-final,
Mosaad secured his unexpected victory over lone Pakistani Aamir Atlas
Khan, the No2 seed,in a 9-1 9-5 9-7 scoreline – becoming the
sole player left in the tournament to win all his matches in straight
games. While Kahn was arguably the more skilful of the two players,
Mosaad proved too powerful and played to Khan’s weaknesses around court.
The final promises to be a
mouth-watering contest with Ramy Ashour looking to cement his name in
squash history by becoming the first man to win two world junior
championships.
Aamir Khan has straight
games win to go through to Semis
Egypt Leads The Way
Into World Junior Semi-Finals In NZ
Egypt
has dominated on quarter-finals day at the Prince Men's World Junior
Squash Championship – claiming all but one of the places in the last
four in Palmerston North, New Zealand.
Title-holder Ramy
Ashour continued his relentless march through the draw with another
comprehensive victory in the last eight, downing Pakistan's Farhan
Mehboob 9-3 10-8 9-2 in 42 minutes. The world No20 will meet
compatriot Tarek Momen in the last four.
Momen, a 5/8 seed, upset
fourth-seeded German Simon Rosner, the European Junior Champion,
9-4 10-8 7-9 10-9 in a hard-fought 83-minute battle.
Third seed Omar Mosaad
added to Egypt's winning run, beating Pakistan's Yasir Butt 9-4 9-4
10-8. However, Pakistani Aamir Atlas Khan put paid to an
all-Egyptian semi-final line-up. The No2 seed despatched Egypt's Mohd
Ali Anwar Reda 9-2 9-4 9-2 in 36 minutes, the quickest win of the day.
Semi-final line-up:
[1] Ramy Ashour (EGY) v
[5/8] Tarek Momen (EGY)
[2] Aamir Atlas Khan (PAK)
v [3] Omar Mosaad (EGY)
Rosner Battles
Through To World Junior Quarter-Finals
All the top seeds
survived today's (Wednesday) fourth round action in the Prince Men's
World Junior Squash Championship – but Germany's fourth seed
Simon Rosner had to battle hard to earn his place as the only
non-Egyptian or non-Pakistani through to the last eight of the biennial
event in Palmerston North, New Zealand.
Rosner, the European
Junior Champion, needed 78 minutes to overcome Pakistan's 9/16 seed
Bilal Zaman 9-4, 10-8, 3-9, 9-4 and will now meet Egypt's 5/8 seed
Tarek Momen for a place in the semi-finals. Momen dashed
England's hopes of a player in the quarter-finals when he beat Tom
Pashley 9-5, 9-0, 9-10, 9-5 in just over an hour.
Egypt's title favourite
Ramy Ashour dropped just three points in his 9-2 9-1 9-0 victory
over Malaysia's Choong Kam Hing. The world No20 now takes on
Pakistan's 5/8 seed Farhan Mehboob in a repeat of their
quarter-final meeting in the event two years ago in Pakistan.
Second seeded Aamir
Atlas Khan from Pakistan has also made short work of his fourth
round match, warming up from a slow start to defeat Dutchman Tom
Hoevenaars 9-7 9-0 9-0.
Third seed Omar
Mosaad continued the trend of straight forward wins, with a 9-0 9-0
9-5 demolition of England's James Snell. The Egyptian's reward
is a meeting with Pakistan's 5/8 seed Yasir Butt.
Day 2
Egypt & Pakistan
Dominate On Second Day In New Zealand
Players from Egypt and Pakistan dominated today's
(Tuesday) second day's play in the Prince Men's World Junior Squash
Championship in Palmerston North, New Zealand.
Egyptian favourite Ramy
Ashour, the title-holder, cruised to a 9-1, 9-0, 9-1 victory over
Ireland's Rory Byrne, and was joined by compatriots Tarek Momen,
Omar Mosaad and Mohd Ali Anwar Reda in the last sixteen.
Four players from Pakistan
also made it through to the fourth round, led by second seed Aamir
Atlas Khan who beat England's unseeded Adrian Waller 9-0, 9-0, 9-2. Khan's
fellow countrymen Farhan Mehboob, Bilal Zaman and Yasir Butt
will also be lining up for places in the quarter-finals.
Germany's fourth seed
Simon Rosner led the European charge into Wednesday's play. The
European Junior Champion beat India's Parth Sharma 9-0, 9-2, 9-1.
Part of the Opening Ceremony
The Parade of nations featuring
flag bearers from
local primary schools
Nearly 400 international visitors received a stellar welcome at the
opening ceremony for the 2006 World Junior Men’s Championships in
Palmerston North.
Unique performances including Fire-Poi and a traditional Maori welcome
were just some of the highlights which captured the spirit of the
tournament and included a parade of nations performed by children each
representing a local school.
Lee Leads England's
Attack In World Junior Team Championships In New Zealand
Surrey 16-year-old Joe
Lee has been selected to lead England in the Prince Men's World
Junior (U19) Team Squash Championships next month in New Zealand.
Lee, the England U19 No1
from West Molesey, will be joined in the squad by Chris Tasker-Grindley,
18, from Cheltenham in Gloucestershire; Tom Pashley, 18, from near
Haywards Heath in Sussex; James Snell, 18, from Exeter in Devon;
and Adrian
Waller, 16,
from Enfield in Middlesex.
The 14th Men's
World Junior Team Championships take place in Palmerston North in New
Zealand from 23-28 July, immediately following the World Individual
Junior Championship which gets underway on Sunday 16 July. England
have won the team title four times, the last time in 2000, and have
reached the final on five further occasions.
"We will be under a lot of
pressure at these championships, where defending champions Pakistan will
be strong, and Egypt, led by the defending individual champion and world
No20 Ramy Ashour, are also likely to be seeded ahead of us. But we have a
talented young squad who are extremely well-prepared," said England
Squash High Performance Coach David Campion.
"As we have seen in
previous championships - where our preparation is strong and our team
spirit is high, we will be difficult to beat," added Campion.
Joe Lee, the British
National U17 champion, was the only English finalist in the British Junior
Open Championships in January – reaching the U17 climax. Lee is coached
at St George's Hill club in Weybridge by his father Danny Lee,
himself a former England junior international.
Tasker-Grindley, the 2004
British National U17 champion, reached the European Junior Championship
semi-finals in April, against his seeding. This will be the second World
Junior Championships' appearance for Pashley, the 2003 British National
U15 champion, who also played in the 2004 event in Pakistan.
James Snell, the 2000
British National U13 champion, won the Welsh Junior Open crown earlier
this year.
Adrian Waller is also 16
and, like Lee, will be eligible to compete in the 2008 World Junior
Championships in Switzerland. The British U13 National champion in 2002
and the U15 champion two years later, Waller can also boast England
appearances in the European U15 championships in 2004 and the European U17
championships in 2005 and 2006
Ashour On Verge Of Historic World Title Win
Egypt's
Ramy Ashour is seeded to become the first man in history to win the
Men's World Junior Squash Championship title twice according to the
draw for the 2006 Prince-sponsored event in Palmerston North,
New Zealand, which is announced today (Tuesday) by the
World Squash Federation (WSF).
The 2006
individual championship, which has attracted 126 players from 19
countries, takes place from 16-22 July, and is followed by the World
Junior Team Championship from 23-28 July.
Ashour
shocked the squash world two years ago when – aged 16, and seeded only to
reach the last eight – he romped through the event in Islamabad, Pakistan,
to become the fourth Egyptian to win the crown since the inaugural event
in 1980.
The
18-year-old from Cairo, who has now burst into the top 20 PSA world
rankings, is expected to face No2 seed Aamir Atlas Khan in the
final in a repeat of his 2004 semi-final against the unseeded Pakistani.
Ashour
leads a group of four Egyptians who are seeded to reach the last eight –
including third seed Omar Mosaad, a double British Junior U17
Open champion from Cairo; and 5/8 seeds Mohd Ali Anwar Reda
(the reigning British U17 Open champion) and Tarek Momen, a former
British U13 and U15 Open champion.
Germany's
European Junior champion Simon Rosner is the fourth seed, while
local interest will be led by Evan Williams, a 16-year-old from
Wellington who is a 9/16 seed.
Complete
1st round draw:
[1] Ramy
Ashour (EGY) bye
Vikram
Malhotra (IND) v Ahmed Hassan (ZIM)
[17/32]
Rory Byrne (IRL) v Joel Boman (AUS)
Edward
Dromgool (NZL) v Petteri Siren (FIN)
[9/16]
Keith Pritchard (CAN) v Christopher Callis (USA)
Craig
Farrell (NZL) v Brad Kemp (AUS)
[17/32]
Choong Kam Hing (MAS) v Manek Mathur (IND)
Chris
Tasker-Grindley (ENG) v James Skifffington (NZL)
[5/8]
Farhan Mehboob (PAK) v Karri Salonen (FIN)
David
Canner (USA) v Tatsuya Shinkubo (JPN)
[17/32]
Ammar Al-Tamimi (KUW) v Reiko Peter (SUI)
Norman
Junge (GER) v Richard Dodd (RSA)
[9/16] Evan
Williams (NZL) v Elvinn Keo (MAS)
Matthew
Nation (NZL) v Karim Dabaah (ENG)
[17/32]
Harinder Pal Sandhu (IND) v Fung Ji Yang (HKG)
Zac
Alexander (AUS) v Colin West (CAN)
[4] Simon
Rosner (GER) v Frank Hartkoren (NED)
Christopher
Lloyd (NZL) v Christopher Plimpton (USA)
[17/32]
Andrew McDougall (CAN) v Benjamin Fischer (SUI)
Parth
Sharma (IND) v Nathan Kam (AUS)
[9/16]
Bilal Zaman (PAK) v Alex Ingham (ENG)
Richard
Colburn (RSA) v Cameron Jamieson (NZL)
[17/32]
Nathan Stevenson (AUS) v Bumpei Kawano (JPN)
Josh Larkin
(AUS) v Jordan Wagstaff (NZL)
[5/8] Tarek
Momen (EGY) v Shamlan Mohammed (KUW)
Alexander
Jury (AUS) v Lance Beddoes (NZL)
[17/32]
Pyry Poikolainen (FIN) v Tim Cowell (AUS)
Ainsley
Gannaway (ZIM) v Byron Peehi-Floyd (NZL)
[9/16]
Sandeep Jangra (IND) v Alan Tsang (HKG)
Bastiaan
Meulenbelt (NED) v Cameron Morris (AUS)
[17/32] Tom
Pashley (ENG) v Alex Grayson (NZL)
Randy Lim
(MAS) v Todd Ruth (USA)
Josh Thom (NZL)
v Hisham Saleh (KUW)
[17/32]
Parthiban Ayappan (IND) v Rudi Willemse (RSA)
Omar Tarek
Mahm Aly (EGY) v Reed Endresen (USA)
[9/16]
Nicolas Mueller (SUI) v Chris O'Kane (IRL)
Mikael
Siren (FIN) v Aaron Cusick (AUS)
[17/32]
Sander Kock (NED) v Conor Matson (NZL)
Luke Gordon
(NZL) v Florian Silbernagl (GER)
[5/8] Yasir
Butt (PAK) v Mark Froot (USA)
James Meyer
(NZL) v Rex Hedrick (AUS)
[17/32]
James Snell (ENG) v Wian Louwrens (RSA)
Leo Au (HKG)
v Matiu Tekani-McQueen (NZL)
[9/16] Mohd
Asyraf Azan (MAS) v Luke Sims (AUS)
Naresh
Kumar (IND) v Bryce Redman (NZL)
[17/32]
David Letourneau (CAN) v Curtis Harrison (NZL)
Zardeen
Wazir (ZIM) v Aaron Fyfe (AUS)
[3] Omar
Mosaad (EGY) v Shinnosuke Tsukue (JPN)
Ivan Yuen
(MAS) v Charles Veerkamp (NED)
[17/32]
Trevor McGuinness (USA) v Aatos Mannroos (FIN)
Omar Al
Jamaan (KUW) v Ramit Tandon (IND)
[9/16] Joe
Lee (ENG) v Peter Taylor (AUS)
Yuuta Fukui
(JPN) v Jason Cole Niven (RSA)
[17/32]
Dave Glass (CAN) v Wesley Cusick (AUS)
Conor
O'Hare (IRL) v Lui Syder (NZL)
[5/8] Mohd
Ali Anwar Reda (EGY) v Livio Catenazzi (SUI)
Keegan
Burkhart (NZL) v Deepesh Patel (ZIM)
[17/32] Tom
Hoevenaars (NED) v Carsten Schoor (GER)
Mohamed El
Shorbagy (EGY) v Simon O'Shaughnessy (NZL)
[9/16] Max
Lee (HKG) v Ravi Dixit (IND)
Adrian
Waller (ENG) v Matthew Durda (AUS)
[17/32]
Matt Reece (AUS) v Mithran Selvaratnam (MAS)
Two Egyptians will square off in
the final of the World Junior Men’s Championships after Omar Mossad tipped
out second seed Aamir Khan of Pakistan and Ramy Ashour eventually won his
semi-final match.
Ashour was on the back foot early
on, losing his first set of the tournament to his countryman Tarek Momen.
Momen showed his win over Simon Rosner in the quarterfinals wasn’t a fluke
with some deft touches that stretched even Ashour’s considerable reach.
Ashour eventually found his
stride and wore Momen down with sheer power, pushing him into the back
corners with shots that were impossible to attack. The pair also battled it
out at the front of the court with some lengthy drop-shot rallies. Ashour
won 7-9, 9-3, 9-1, 9-4.
Aamir Khan, who had been
untroubled in his run through to the semi-final, didn’t have any answers to
Omar Mossad’s speed and power. Mossad completely dominated the diminutive
Pakistani, who valiantly worked his way back into the match with
considerable skill but he succumbed in three sets. Mossad won 9-1, 9-5,
9-7.
The final will be a fascinating
one – the two Egyptians could be mistaken for brothers, not only for their
height and looks but in the aggressive style of play that has carried them
to the title match.
There were some happy faces in
the Egyptian camp after the semifinals – it’s now a certainty that one of
their countrymen will take out the title on Saturday night. The only
question is which one.
The quarter-finals of the World Junior Mens Champs had
a predictable look about it, with the Egyptian squad reserving three of the
four semi-final spots and Aamir Khan from Pakistan securing the fourth as
expected.
Ramy Ashour continued his campaign to defend his title
but he didn’t have it all his own way in his match against Farhan Mehboob
from Pakistan.
Ashour took out the first game easily and it looked
like he was going to waltz through as he has for the whole tournament.
But Mehboob had other ideas in the second game. He
took a slender lead and tenaciously held on to it until he got to game
point. Ashour seemed a little rattled, questioning let calls several times.
Of course it could have just been gamesmanship. He showed his nerve and
some aggressive play, snatching back the game 10-8.
Mehboob’s fight was broken and Ashour went on to win
the match 9-3, 10-8, 9-2.
Khan’s was the easiest victory of the round as he
breezed past Mohd Ali Anwar Reda, moving the Egyptian around the court at
will. Khan won 9-2, 9-4, 9-2.
The other two games were more closely contested.
Simon Rosner from Germany didn’t settle into his game and became flustered
with let calls and his own mistakes. Again he showed grit and stamina but
went down to Egyptian Tarek Momen, who showed more composure at critical
points in the match. Momen won the match 9-4, 10-8, 7-9, 10-9, which ran for
83 minutes.
Omar Mossad from Egypt proved too strong for Pakistani
Yasir Butt winning 9-4, 9-4, 10-8.
Simon Rosner from Germany ground out a tough win against Pakistan opponent
Bilal Zaman in the fourth round of the World Junior Champs. The German
won 3-1.
The 78-minute match became a psychological arm wrestle as much as a physical
one with dubious lets being called for and given. Each then chanced
their arm with the umpires with the two imposing players colliding several
times.
Zaman worked his way back into the match once he deciphered Rosner’s
patterns, pushing him close in the second game and then taking the
third. But Rosner kept his composure and the fourth game saw some
long, punishing rallies.
Rosner eventually pulled clear and won the match 9-4, 10-8, 3-9, 9-4
Following the opening ceremony players headed of to get a good nights rest
with competition beginning first thing Monday morning.
Egypt are top seeds for the championships which run through to July 28
with individual finals on the 22nd and teams finals on the 28th.
The England junior men’s squash team defeated a near full strength
Central team 7 – 0 in a friendly designed to help the England team
acclimatise to local conditions ahead of the Prince World Junior Men’s
Squash championships beginning this Monday.
The 7 zip score line suggests England have prepared well for the
championships and fully deserve their 3rd seeding in the teams competition.
The Netherlands will take on New Zealand on Friday night at 6.30pm at the
Linton Street SquashGym.
Adrian Waller (England) vs Matt Nation
(Palmerston North who's also playing
in champs for New Zealand)
The Venue
England beat Central 7-0
Joe Lee (Eng) bt Kent Darlington (Cent) 9/5
9/2 9/2
Mike Harris (Eng Manager) bt Anthony McLeod (Cent) 9/5 9/5 9/6
Chris Tasker-Grindley (Eng) bt Paul Tuffin (Cent) 9/2 9/2 9/2
Alex Ingham (Eng) bt Tim Preston (Cent) 9/4 9/4 9/3
James Snell (Eng) bt Mike McSherry (Cent) 3/9 2/9 9/7 9/0 9/5
Adrian Waller (Eng) bt Matt Nation (Cent) 9/3 9/3 9/4
Tom Pashley (Eng) bt Glen Carson (Cent) 9/1 9/0 7/9 9/2