Home of WSF World Junior Squash Championships St Petersburg, Russia 9 – 20 August 2022
In the days before the 2017 World Juniors gets under way, we’ll revisit some key moments from previous events …
5/4/3 Days: Rest Days
We’re giving the countdown a rest while we make our way to NZ … l
6 Days: Team Spirit
After the individuals it’s the Girls’ Team event, where team spirit and team photos are a must.
In Boston 2011 we has a Football pitch to work with, and some innovative ideas for team photos including a Haka, of course.
There’s bound to be some great settings for Team shots in Tauranga, so get your thinking caps on …
Full Boston 2011 Team Shots Gallery
7 Days: Two New Champions
There have been a few Double Winners – more so in recent times with both individual events being held annually – but in 2014 in Namibia, two new champions were crowned …
8 Days: Olympic Dreams
The World Juniors is a natural place for squash to air its Olympic dreams – it’s the competitors at the event who will hopefully be fighting for those Gold medals in the future, after all.
Chennai 2009 and Poland 2013 saw some of the athletes give the 2016 “Back the Bid” and 2020 “Vote 4 Squash” bids a push, although squash eventually lost out on both of those.
Recent news from the 2018 Youth Olympics, and the prospect of host-chosen additional sports in LA or Paris 2024 brings more hope that some of the competitors in Tauranga (and some of the players in these photos) will one day be wearing Olympic medals …
We can only dream … but the bad news is that Dame Susan will still be too old :-(((
More Countdown Stories on the BLOG
9 Days: First of Four for the Shorbagys
In 2008 in Switzerland, Egypt claimed their 6th Men’s title in 8 editions as Mohamed Elshorbagy followed two-time winner Ramy Ashour into the record books.
Mohamed would go on to win the title twice, as would his younger brother Marwan, but that’s another story.
More Countdown Stories on the BLOG
10 Days: America’s First Champion
2010 saw the Women’s Individual event held in Cologne, Germany, where Amanda Sobhy became the first champion from America – on her 17th Birthday !!!
Full coverage from Cologne 2010 More Countdown Stories on the BLOG
11 Days: England’s Last Champion
England’s last WJ Champion was James Willstrop, who beat compatriot Peter Barker in the final in Chennai in 2002.
Originally scheduled for July, the event was postponed until December so Willstrop, who would go on to become World #1 and is still inside the top ten today, was actually 19 when he won the title.
In the team event Pakistan took the title, beating England in the final.
More Countdown Stories on the BLOG
12 Days: Egypt’s last team defeat
The Egyptians have won seven of the last nine WWJ titles, are on a winning streak of FIVE titles and will be hot favourites to make it six in a row in Tauranga.
The last team to beat them was Hong Kong, winning a dramatic final in Herentals back in 2005, all of twelve years ago.
More Countdown Stories on the BLOG
