Up & Down Day for Canadians at WJs Day 2
by Danny Da Costa

Wroclaw, Poland (July 16, 2013) – It was a mixed bag of results for the Canadian girls today at the 2013 World Squash Junior Championships in Wroclaw, Poland.  Six Canadian girls had second round matches and a chance to advance to the final 32 but after the dust settled, only two, Toronto’s Hollie Naugton and Alyssa Mehta, were able to claim victories.

The bright spot of today’s action was the victory by Naughton, Canada’s top ranked junior player, over Guatemala’s Winifer Bonilla. Naughton suffered an ankle injury in pre-tournament training and leading up to today’s match there were questions over whether she would be physically able to play. Naughton was not only able to overcome her injury, but showed fine form in doing so, dispatching her opponent in straight games 11-6, 11-4, 11-4. Alyssa Mehta was Canada’s other victor on the day, fighting off a strong challenge from the Czech Republic’s Kristyna Alexova. Mehta let a two games to zero lead slip away in the face of some strong play from her Czech challenger before regrouping in the deciding fifth game and recording an 11-5, 11-8, 7-11, 7-11, 11-6 victory.  

The other side of the coin saw Canadians Alison Richmond, Dileas Macgowan, Chloe Chemtob, and Sophie Mehta go down at the hands of some the world’s top junior squash players. Sophie Mehta had perhaps the toughest draw in English number one Victoria Temple-Murray and succumbed to the Brit 11-9, 11-4, 11-4.  Macgowan and Richmond also ran into seeded players and were defeated by England’s Nada Elkalaawy 11-0, 11-1, 11-8 and Belgium’s Nele Gilis 11-5, 11-1, 11-6, respectively.  Chemtob played a tough four game match against Hong Kong’s Pansy Chan but could not withstand the Hong Konger’s play, eventually losing 11-6, 6-11, 11-9, 11-3.

Hollie Naughton and Alyssa Mehta will both take to the court on Wednesday in Wroclaw, trying to win a place among the final sixteen.

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.