Canadians Eliminated from WJs Main Draw
by Danny Da Costa

Wroclaw, Poland (July 18, 2013) – Canadians Hollie Naughton and Alyssa Mehta both lost their 3rd round matches today at the 2013 World Squash Junior Championships in Wroclaw, Poland. Bidding for places in the final sixteen, Naughton and Mehta were unable win their singles matches, leaving zero Canadians left in the competition.

Naughton, of Oakville, Ontario, overcame an ankle injury suffered in pre-tournament training to win her 2nd round match on Tuesday, but despite a valiant effort, Naughton was unable to defeat her 3rd round opponent, Sachika Ingale of India. Naughton was always playing from behind against Ingale; she dropped a tight first game 13-11, before coming back strong to win the 2nd game 11-4 and level the match. The 3rd game was another close set that once again saw the Indian come out on top, recording an 11-9 score line. As in the 2nd, Naughton fought back once again and in fact bageled Ingale with an 11-0 game; however, Naughton could not keep the momentum and Ingale won the deciding 5th game 11-4. Overall Naughton won 46 points to Ingale’s 39 but an inability to pull out the close games cost Naughton the match.

Toronto’s Alyssa Mehta received a tough draw in Egyptian 5th/8th seed Mariam Ibrahim Metwaly. After winning a grueling five game match on Tuesday, the Egyption was simply too much for Mehta on the day and recorded a straight game 11-4, 11-5, 11-4 victory. Well a third round exit may not be what Mehta was hoping for, at just sixteen years of age, the current Canadian Girls Under 17 Champion still has two more years of eligibility at the World Squash Junior Championships and will no doubt come back better and stronger in the years to come.

The tournament exits by Naughton and Mehta mean that there are no more Canadians left in the girls singles draw; however, the girls’ team competition will begin next week in Wroclaw and both Naughton and Mehta, along with Montreal’s Chloe Chemtob will be competing together for Canada.

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 championships will be staged from the 16-27 of July; the first week will feature the individual boys and girls events and the girls team competition will be contested in the second week.  Over 100 athletes will participate in the championships including girls’ teams representing 16 nations.