WJC girls team
U.S. Women’s World Junior Team L-R: Assistant Coach Lynn Leong, Hayley Scott, Kayley Leonard, Eleanore Evans, Reeham Sedky, Casey Wong, Sabrina Sobhy, and Head Coach Scott Devoy.

The eleven young men and women representing the United States in the 2015 World Junior Championships have arrived in Eindhoven, Holland.

The Men’s and Women’s World Junior Individual Championships will take place at Squash Time from July 26-30, followed by the World Junior Women’s Team Championships from July 31-August 4 at the Squash Time venue.

U.S. Junior Champion Reeham Sedky and world PSA No. 48 Sabrina Sobhy—in her fifth consecutive World Junior Championships—enter the 2015 Women’s World Junior Individual Championships seeded [13/16] and [5/8], respectively.

The past two editions of the women’s team competition, 2011 and 2013, have seen the U.S. contingents record their best finishes (of second place) on the world junior stage.

Led by Head Coach Scott Devoy and Assistant Coach Lynn Leong, Team USA’s Sobhy and Sedky are joined by Kayley Leonard, Casey Wong, and Hayley Scott and Eleanor Evans, who will compete in the individuals portion of the championships. The U.S. junior women will aim to deny favorited Egypt a fifth consecutive title.

“We have an experienced group with Sabrina, Reeham, Kayley and Casey having all competed in at least one world junior event, ” Devoy said. “With strong second place finishes in the past two team events, we will be looking to emulate those results. Other countries will be stronger than previous years, but a top four result is something that is a realistic opportunity. Individually, we are looking for each girl to improve on previous results.”

WJC boys team
U.S. Men’s World Junior Team L-R: Head Coach Adam Hamill, Sean Hughes, Gabriel Morgan, Timmy Brownell, Max Reed, and Spencer Lovejoy.

On the boys’ side, two members of the U.S. junior men’s team return to individuals competition: Max Reed and Timothy Brownell. U.S. Junior Champion Sean Hughes makes his world junior championships debut, as does California’s Gabriel Morgan, and Spencer Lovejoy.

The WSF World Junior Championships are an annual event used to determine and celebrate the best junior squash players around the world. The ISRF World Junior Team Championships were first begun in 1980; though there has been a similar tournament in operation since 1972. In England, a team event was planned to coincide with the British Junior Open and was first held in April 1973 with four competing countries (England, Scotland, Wales and Sweden)—this event was called the Junior International Festival.

Since 1980, every year an unofficial international squash contest was staged, eventually gaining in numbers and popularity. Prior to 1980 there were no accompanying individual tournaments in conjunction with the team-based competition. Until 2009, the events were held biannually, but have since been held annually, with team events (Boys and Girls) alternating each year.

Peru’s Diego Elias and Egypt’s Habiba Mohamed are both seeded to retain the titles they won for the first time last year in Namibia. Elias made history last year as the first world champion from Peru—going on to pick up three titles on the PSA tour and now boasts a career high ranking of world No. 43, and is expected to meet Egypt’s All-Africa Junior champion Amr Arafa in the final.

The draw for the women’s championship predicts an all-Egyptian semifinal for the third year in a row—with Mohamed expected to meet Cairo-based Nouran Gohar, in a repeat of the 2014 final.

More than 150 players from eighteen nations will compete in the championships.

For more information, see the official 2015 World Junior Championships homepage.



Men’s World Individual Championship First Round draw: 
[1] Diego Elias (PER) bye
Jean-Pierre van der Merwe (RSA) bye
Adrien Grondin (FRA) bye
Umair Zaman (QAT) bye
Timothy Brownell (USA) bye
Bart Horstman (NED) v Yvi Roggen (BEL)
Matias Knudsen (COL) v Tor Christofferson (SWE)
[13/16] Dimitri Steinmann (SUI) bye

[9/12] Youssef Ibrahim Abdallah (EGY) bye
Thijs Roukens (NED) bye
Aishwary Singh (IND) v Nilo Vidal (ESP)
Luke Jones (NZL) bye
Kyle Finch (ENG) bye
Theis Houlberg (DEN) bye
Abdullahi Alhaji Musa (NGR) v Mohammad Ali (KUW)
[5/8] Israr Ahmed (PAK) bye

[5/8] Eain Yow Ng (MAS) bye
Christoph Zust (SUI) v Filip Kocarek (CZE)
Tobias Weggen (GER) bye
Tess Jutte (NED) bye
Velavan Senthilkumar (IND) bye
Justin Wesson (RSA) bye
Juan Laguna (COL) v Bradley Masters (ENG)
[9/12] Mohammad Alsarraj (JOR) bye

[13/16] Solayman Nowrozi (AUS) bye
Nicholas Goth-Errington (SWE) v Gabriel Morgan (USA)
Mathias Grondin (FRA) v Jorge Gomez (MEX)
Asim Khan (PAK) bye
Abdulwahab Al-Ishaw (QAT) v Charlie Lee (ENG)
[3/4] Amr Arafa (EGY) bye

[3/4] Youssef Soliman (EGY) bye
Dmytro Pogrebnyak (UKR) v Abbas Shoukat (PAK)
Yannik Omlor (GER) bye
Cedric de Vos (BEL) bye
Balazs Farkas (HUN) bye
Roman Allinckx (SUI) bye
Vikas Mehra (IND) v Eissa Mohammad (KUW)
[13/16] Benjamin Aubert (FRA) bye

[9/12] Adham Madi (EGY) bye
John Henryz (SWE) v Dewald van Niekerk (RSA)
Jan Kurzmeyer (SUI) v Santiago Orozco (COL)
Sam Etjemai (AUS) bye
Enzo Corigliano (FRA) bye
Max Reed (USA) bye
Thijs van der Pluijm (NED) v Adithya Raghavan (IND)
[5/8] Patrick Rooney (ENG) bye

[5/8] Saadeldin Abouaish (EGY) bye
Sean Hughes (USA) v Sanjay Jeeva (BEL)
Donny van Hal (NED) bye
Dominik Dubsky (CZE) bye
Miko Aijanen (FIN) bye
Filip Hultman (SWE) v Alireza Shameli (IRI)
Amadeo Costa (SUI) v Casper Kloster Skaarenborg (DEN)
[9/12] James Peach (ENG) bye

[13/16] Sandeep Ramachandran (IND) bye
Ryunosuke Tsukue (JPN) v Khaled Al-Jenaidel (KUW)
Olamilekan Sunday Oyewole (NGR) v Victor Crouin (FRA)
Ahsan Ayaz (PAK) bye
Syed Azlan Amjad (QAT) bye
Ronald Palomino (COL) bye
Spencer Lovejoy (USA) v Anton Larsson (SWE)
[2] Tayyab Aslam (PAK) bye

Women’s World Individual Championship First Round draw:
[1] Habiba Mohamed (EGY) bye
Suzanne Peters (NED) bye
Sarah Mekhalfi (FRA) bye
Kaitlyn Watts (NZL) bye
Laura Tovar (COL) bye
Sunayna Kuruvilla (IND) v Victoria Leow (AUS)
Eleonore Evans (USA) v Hiu Lam Lui (HKG)
[13/16] Chloe Chemtob (CAN) bye

[9/12] Lucy Beecroft (ENG) bye
Saskia Beinhard (GER) v Daniek Krukkert (NED)
Carley Barton (ZIM) v Casey Wong (USA)
Celine Walser (SUI) bye
Riina Koskinen (FIN) bye
Eliška Jirásková (CZE) v Inge Coetzee (RSA)
Kato Verwilt (BEL) v Jui Kalgutkar (IND)
[5/8] Hania El Hammamy (EGY) bye

[5/8] Sabrina Sobhy (USA) bye
Tara Shannon (CAN) v Faith Sithole (RSA)
Lauren Clarke (NZL) bye
Zoe Foo Yuk Han (MAS) bye
Andrea Lee (MAS) bye
Henrietta Huuhka (FIN) v Samantha Calvert (AUS)
Elin Harlow (WAL) v Sunday Veronica (NGR)
[9/12] Amelia Henley (ENG) bye

[13/16] Mayar Hany Mohamed (EGY) bye
Juee Bhide (NZL) v Maddie O’Connor (CAN)
Elena Wagenmans (NED) v Maria Fernanda Rivera (MEX)
Cindy Merlo (SUI) bye
Ho Ka Wing (HKG) bye
Adya Advani (IND) bye
Lucy Turmel (ENG) v Elise Romba (FRA)
[3/4] Salma Hany Ibrahim (EGY) bye

[3/4] Mariam Metwally (EGY) bye
Shannon O’Donovan (ZIM) v Sarah Ludin (SUI)
Mariska Wiese (RSA) bye
Harshit Jawanda (IND) bye
Nadia Hubbard (NZL) v Fleur Maas (NED)
Grace Thomas (CAN) v Julie Rossignol (FRA)
[13/16] Reeham Sedky (USA) bye

[9/12] Lakeesha Rarere (AUS) bye
Sara Vallejo (COL) v Nea Falck (FIN)
Laura Paquemar (FRA) v Juliette Permentier (NED)
Sivasangari Subramaniam (MAS) bye
Nazihah Hanis (MAS) bye
Nikita Joshi (IND) v Annika Engstrom (SWE)
Nele Hatschek (GER) v Cheng Nga Ching (HKG)
[5/8] Georgina Kennedy (ENG) bye

[5/8] Tinne Gilis (BEL) bye
Kayley Leonard (USA) v Kace Bartley (ENG)
Sophie Mehta (CAN) v Marija Shpakova (SUI)
Lowri Roberts (WAL) bye
Abbie Palmer (NZL) bye
Titiloayo Akinyele (NGR) v Lauren Aspinall (AUS)
Akanksha Salunkhe (IND) v Kuzivakwashe Madungwe (ZIM)
[9/12] Choi Uen Shan (HKG) bye

[13/16] Eleanor Epke (NZL) bye
Maarit Ekholm (FIN) v Christine Christoffersen (DEN)
Cassey Preece (RSA) v Mari Taylor (ENG)
Satomi Watanabe (JPN) bye
Sanne Veldkamp (NED) bye
Laura Gamblin (FRA) bye
Rachael Gibson (AUS) v Haley Scott (USA)
[2] Nouran Gohar (EGY) bye