Canada Upsets India, Earns Shot at 5th Place at World Squash Juniors by Danny Da Costa Wroclaw, Poland (July 26, 2013)
– The Canadian Girls Squash Team defeated India today in the
consolation semi-finals of the 2013 World Squash Junior Championships
in Wroclaw, Poland. The 7th seeded Canadian team of Hollie
Naughton, Alyssa Mehta, and Chloe Chemtob defeated 6th seed India 2-1
in the best-of-three singles encounter to earn a place in the 5th place
match against either Malaysia or New Zealand.
Coming off yesterday’s
quarter-final loss to top seed and three times defending champion
Egypt, Canada was able to regroup and show their mettle in the victory
against India. For much of the tie it seemed as Canada would go out
quietly; Canadian number one Hollie Naughton played well against
Harshit Kaur Jawanda, but the close games went against her and Naughton
lost in straights 11-4, 13-11, 12-10. In the 2nd match, Alyssa Mehta
promptly lost the first game to Lakshya Ragavendran 11-6 and the end
seemed to be closing in quickly. Down a match and a game and firmly
behind the proverbial eight ball, Mehta once again showed the resolve
that has been the backbone of Canada’s performance at the championships
so far. Mehta picked up her level and begun to take the game to her
opponent, winning both the 2nd and 3rd games, 11-8, 11-4 respectively.
Ragavendran tried to rally in the 4th and force a decider but Mehta
would not let the Indian out of her clutches and won the game and the
match 6-11, 11-8, 11-4, 12-10.
With the encounter
leveled at 1-1 game at piece, for the first time in the tournament
Canada would be playing a decisive third match. The hopes of Canada
rested on the shoulders of their youngest member, 15 year old Chloe
Chemtob of Montreal. In a tournament featuring the best eighteen year
old squash players in the world, Chemtob showed no intimidation and
promptly won the first two games against Sachika Ingale. This was not
Ingale’s first run in with Canada, as the Indian had eliminated
Naughton from the singles competition just a week earlier. Ingale
looked to give Canada another defeat as she came back to win both the
3rd and 4th games against Chemtob and send the match to a final game
that would decide the match and the tie. With the momentum firmly on
her side, Ingale jumped out to an early in the 5th and was on her way
to pushing India to victory; at this point, no one would have faulted
young Chemtob if she let the match against Ingale slip away, but
Chemtob had no intention of doing so. Showing a level determination far
beyond her 15 years, Chemtob reversed the tide of momentum against her
and put Ingale on her heels; when it was over, Chemtob had to pulled
out the 5th game and recorded an 11-2, 11-6, 7-11, 9-11, 12-10 victory
for Canada.
The win means Canada’s
final match at the championships will be for an impressive 5th place
finish. The 5th place match will take place Saturday at 8:00am EST
against either Malaysia or New Zealand. The encounter can be seen live
at
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.
