The U.S. Junior Men are set to compete in the biennial World Junior Men’s Team Championship for the first time since 2018 following the conclusion of the World Junior Men’s and Women’s Individual Championships Tuesday, August 16, in Nancy, France.
The U.S. contingent ended the individual competition on a high note as 9/16 seeds Caroline Fouts and Lucie Stefanoni recorded top twelve finishes.
After fulfilling their seedings and exiting the main draw in the round of sixteen at the hands of higher seeded opposition, Stefanoni and Fouts fed into the 9-16 playoff.
After a Fouts 3-0 win and Stefanoni walkover, the two Americans faced each other with Fouts advancing to the 9th place playoff and sending her teammate to the 11th place playoff. In Tuesday’s final matches, sixteen-year-old Fouts fell 3-0 to Egypt’s Nardine Sameh Garas to finish tenth in the world, while Stefanoni outlasted England’s Asia Harris 11-7, 12-10, 5-11, 8-11, 11-5 to place eleventh in the world.
The World Junior Men’s Team Championship begins with two days of pool play, August 17-18, with the field of twenty-three nations separating into 1-16 and 17-23 playoffs based on pool results.
The U.S. squad includes Avi Agarwal, Arav Bhagwati, Rishi Srivastava, Tad Carney and Zane Patel, and is led be U.S. Junior Men’s Head Coach Luke Butterworth and Assistant Coach Simba Muhwati.
Team USA enters Pool E as 7/12 seeds alongside five seeds France, Ukraine and Spain. The U.S. will open up the tournament against Ukraine at 10am local time, 4am EDT on court 5. The U.S. will then challenge the hosts and higher seeds France later that afternoon on court 2 at 5pm local time, 11am EDT.
Team USA’s final pool play match against Spain will be available to live stream from court 4 at 2pm local time, 8am EDT.
For more tournament coverage and to follow results visit wsfworldjuniors.com.