Canada Falls to US at World Squash Junior Teams Championships
by Danny Da Costa


Wroclaw, Poland (July 23, 2013) – The Canadian junior girls squash team put up a tough fight today against team U.S.A. at the 2013 World Squash Junior Championships in Wroclaw, Poland but were unable to overcome the 2nd seed Americans.  The 7th seeded Canadians lost 3-0 to the Americans as the threesome of Hollie Naughton, Alyssa Mehta, and Chloe Chemtob each lost their singles match. The defeats levels Canada’s Pool B record at 1-1 and sets up a do or die match with Team France on Wednesday. 

Canada got off to a strong start in their clash with Team U.S.A. when Alyssa Mehta took the opening game from American Reeham Sedky, 11-8; however, in the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th games, Sedky was able to pull out a tight victory and win the match in 4 games (8-11, 11-7, 11-9, 11-7). In the 2nd match of the best of three encounter, Canadian number one Hollie Naughton was matched up against the 6th ranked junior girl in the world, Sabrina Sobhy. Naughton showed no intimidation towards her opponent and the two girls played five scintillating back and forth sets before the American finally claimed victory in game five, recording an 11-9, 6-11, 11-7, 7-11, 11-7 victory. 

With the U.S. holding an insurmountable 2-0 lead, the final match was a low tension affair and American Maria Elena Ubina was able to complete the sweep for the U.S. with an 11-7, 11-4, 11-3 victory over Montreal’s Chloe Chemtob. 

After Day 2, the United States are 2-0 in Pool B play and appear as the likely winners of the pool with their remaining match being against the 0-2 Czech Republic. Canada and France both sit at 1-1 and wrap up the robin round against each other on Wednesday. The stakes could not be higher as the winner will advance to the quarterfinals while the loser is sent to the consolation draw.
 
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 2013 team competition features squads from 16 countries grouped into four pools of four. For each fixture, competing countries select three team members to compete in a best of three singles format against the opposition. The top two teams from each pool advance to the quarterfinals where a standard playoff elimination format is used.