Home of WSF World Junior Squash Championships 18 – 29th July 2023, Melbourne Australia
On the last day in Bielsko-Biala 16 of the teams were playing for their final positions – but the main final saw Egypt and Pakistan meet for the seventh time in a row, and the Pakistan team broke Egypt’s winning run to claim their fifth title, but their first since 2008.
FINAL: [1] Egypt 1-2 [2] Pakistan
Saadeldin Abouaish 0-3 Israr Ahmed 9/11, 9/11, 9/11 (39m)
Youssef Ibrahim 3-1 Ayaz Ahsan 13/11, 11/13, 11/5, 11/6 (47m)
Marwan Tarek 0-3 Shoukat Abbas 7/11, 9/11, 8/11 (37m)
3rd: England and USA
5th/6th: France 2-1 India 7th/8th: Australia 2-1 New Zealand
9th/10th: Hong Kong 2-1 Jordan 11th/12th: Canada 2-1 South Africa
13th/14th: Malaysia 2-0 Switzerland 15th/16th: Spain 2-1 Israel
17-21 R/R: 17 Germany, 18 Guatemala, 19 Argentina, 20 Poland, 21 Zimbabwe,
Pakistan end Egypt’s winning run
Pakistan got off to a great start in the first tie, between the squad number ones, as Israr Ahmed avenged his semi-final defeat at the hands of Saadeldin Abouaish with a hard-fought straight-games win.
All three games went almost point for point, but Israr managed to find a way to take crucial leads in all three – leading 10-7 in the first before winning it 11-9, takeing the last two points from 9-all in the second, and agonisingly for the Egyptians, again pulling clear from 7-all in the third to take another 11-9.
Youssef Ibrahim levelled the tie for Egypt, afterl letting a good lead lip in the first games, a determined comeback from Ayaz Ashan falling just short as Ibrahim took the lead 13-11. Ibrahim led 9-6 in the second too, but this time the Pakistani made good his comeback, levelling the match 13-11.
Ibrahim was on top for the remainder of the match though, einning them 11-5, 11-6 to set up a decider.
That pitched Marwan Tarek, playing his first World Juniors, against Shoukat Abbas, whose powerful game had proved too much for his American challenger in the semis, and so it proved again.
The Pakistani, urged on by his increasingly expectant team-mates, always had the slight edge, and after pulling back a 1-3 deficit in the opening game was always ahead on the scoreboard.
He closed out the match 11-7, 11-9, 11-8 to the absolute joy of his team, including Pakistan legend Qamar Zaman, who immediately invaded the court.
So ends two weeks in Poland which saw Nouran Gohar retain her Women’s Individual title for a dominant Egypt, Eain Yow Ng become the first Malaysian to win the Men’s Individual title since 2003, and Pakistan end Egypt’s run of three consecutive wins to reclaim the Men’s team title.
Over and out from Bielsko-Biala ……..
Lots more photos in the Gallery
