California’s Vivaan Mehta became just the second American boys’ champion in history after a dramatic five-game BU15 final win, and Team USA celebrated a record four top three finishes to close out its most successful British Junior Open campaign in program history, Monday, January 6, at the University of Birmingham.
Mehta, a 5/8 seed, pulled together a remarkable run to the final without dropping a game, including a 3-0 upset over the two seed in the semifinals to set up final match up against England’s top seed Ali Khalil. Mehta defeated Khalil in a five-game U.S. Junior Open semifinal, and found himself 2-1 down, 15-13, 4-11, 10-12. Mehta dug deep in between games to come back and clinch the title 11-8, 11-4 after fifty-one minutes.
“This is like nothing I’ve ever done before,” Mehta said. “Compared to winning something like the U.S. or Dutch Junior Open, this is another feeling. Each year, I feel like the US team is getting better and closer to the Egyptians.”
Alexander Dartnell, who made history by becoming the first American to reach the BU19 finals, endured an equally dramatic five-game final but found himself on the losing end in front of a packed gallery. Dartnell, a 9/16 seed, fell against Egypt’s 5/8 seed Eiad Daoud 9-11, 11-6, 11-4, 6-11, 11-7 in fifty-nine minutes.
Team USA set a new milestone with four players reaching the podium–an improvement on three top three finishes in 2024–with Christian Capella (BU19) and Alice Wang (GU11) both earning bronze medals. Other top ten finishes included Anderson Morgan (7th, BU11), Ariana Valerio (5th, GU11), Lilianna Fan (8th, GU11) Brendon Chan (4th, BU13), Alex Jaffe (5th, GU19), Dixon Hill (8th, GU19), Sam Jaffe (10th, GU19), John-Jayden Luo (5th, BU15), Jude Cha (10th, BU15), Jack Elriani (4th, BU17), Yaseen Shalaby (8th, BU17), Aiden Chiang (10th, BU17), Charlotte Sze (6th, GU17), Riva Bhagwati (8th, GU17), Reghan McLaughlin (10th, GU17), Chelsea Chen (6th, GU15), Vivienne Sze (7th, GU15), Isabella Tang (8th, GU15) and Trinity Moshi (10th, GU15).
Other new program milestones included six semifinalists and eighteen quarterfinalists. Of the fifty-eight player contingent, thirty-five reached the round of sixteen.
“This year’s British Junior Open was special and historic on so many fronts,” said Karim Ibrahim, US Squash Director of Junior National Teams. “I’m thankful to the parents, players, and coaches for the energy and support throughout the week. I’m so proud of every player for fighting hard and with integrity and we are excited for what the future holds.”
The 2025 BJO marked Team USA’s twelfth annual trip to England as a team. The BJO is considered to be akin to the World Junior Championships with the world’s top players competing in all age divisions from U11 to U19, while the World Juniors fields just the U19 division.
Last year, Team USA produced a record sixteen quarterfinalists and three players recorded top three finishes. Two years ago, Team USA produced two champions in what was a historic first for the junior national team program.
For more tournament coverage, images and streaming replays visit britishjunioropen.com.
Team USA Coaching Staff:
Karim Ibrahim, US Squash Director of Junior National Teams
Nick Taylor, The Ganek Family US Squash Head National Coach
Luke Butterworth, Lead Coach
Charlie Johnson, Lead Coach
Laurent Elriani (Squash Tigers)
Ashraf Yassin (Corner Squash)
Nasr Magdy (Houston Squash Club)
Chris Longman (Germantown Cricket Club)
Vanessa Raj (Bay Club Redwood City)
Ronny Vlassaks (Squash on Fire)
Olivia Clyne (Former world No. 11)
Kim Clearkin, US Squash Chief Programs Officer
