Nineteen-year-old Stanford freshman Riya Navani and 23-year-old Penn senior Nick Spizzirri secured their spot in the 2025 PSA World Championships, to be held May 9-17 in Chicago, by winning the U.S. qualifiers Sunday, April 20, at the Arlen Specter US Squash Center in Philadelphia.
Navani, the women’s draw two seed, beat Alexandra Jaffe, recent DeRoy Scholarship Award recipient and 2025 GU19 national champion, in a five-game final 11-8, 11-9, 8-11, 11-8, 2-11.
Spizzirri beat both Spencer Lovejoy and Salim Khan in three straight games for his shot at Worlds.
“It’s a huge opportunity to get some good points and play against the top players in the World Championships,” said No. 2 seed Nick Spizzirri after his semifinal win against top seed Lovejoy.
After securing wildcard spots, Navani and Spizzirri will join several other players representing Team USA at next month’s World Championships, including both Stefanoni and Sobhy squash sister duos, Olivia Weaver and Timmy Brownell. These eight American athletes will head to Chicago to compete for the $1.3 million prize.
The World Championships Qualifier at the Specter Center April 19-20 was featured alongside one of several upcoming world juniors and pan am juniors training squads for the recently announced National Squash Academy, the cornerstone of the Player Development Pathway.
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