Egypt's squash rise continues as India show promise

By Rod Gilmour
From Telegraph.co.uk

The rise of Egyptian squash was further cemented at this week's British Junior Open after six of the eight titles on offer were picked up by its team.

It culminated with Mohamed El Shorbagy in the men's U19 title as he sauntered to a fourth title in a row in the prestiguous tournament in Sheffield.

Top seed El Shorbagy, who began his unbeaten run in the event in January 2006, managed to stave off Malaysian Ivan Yuen's stren challenge in the final.

The reigning world junior champion needed only 34 minutes to retain his title, beating 18-year-old Yuen 11-8, 11-7, 13-11 to claim the Drysdale Cup.

The women's U19 title returned to Malaysia for the first time since 1999 when Nicol David swept to success after top seed Low Wee Wern beat India's rising star Dipika Pallikal 11-2, 11-8, 8-11, 11-8.

After dominating the opening two games, Pallikal came back strongly in the third as she momentarily cured a string of errors. However, the Malaysian finished the job as she came home convincingly in the third.

The triumph marked the maiden British Junior Open success for the 18-year-old Asian Junior champion from Penang.

Egyptian favourite Amr Khaled Khalifa scored his first success in the Men's U17 event with an 11-5, 11-3, 14-12 victory in the final over Danish Atlas Khan, the second seed from Pakistan.

It was the 16-year-old from Cairo's second Sheffield success after winning the U15 crown in 2007.

Meanwhile, with the finals being filled up by a mix of Egyptian, Malaysian and Indian players, former Pakistani world champion Jahangir Khan threw his weight behind Pakistan's performance in Sheffield.

He said: “The Egyptians have emerged as the leaders in squash and the only reason for this is that they have effectively planned to build a junior squash string.”

Seven Pakistani players failed to make a mark in the tournament. However, Danish Atlas lost in the final against Egypt's Amr Khalid Khalifa.

He added: “It is the responsibility of PSF officials to insure good results but the current performance was shameful.

“There was simply no planning for the event and we were embarrassed before the whole world."