The U.S. Junior Men made history by reaching the program’s first ever World Junior Team Championships final with a 3-0 win over India Thursday, July 31, at the Black Ball Sporting Club in New Cairo, Egypt.
The 2025 World Junior Team Championships marked the second year that both the men’s and women’s events were held together, and for the second year in a row both U.S. squads have reached the podium alongside each other.
Team USA entered the men’s team semifinals following a 2-1 win over France in the quarterfinals to face five seeds India, who upset three seeds Korea on Wednesday.
U.S. No. 1 Alexander Dartnell gave the U.S. a 1-0 lead with a commanding 3-0 win. Sixteen-year-old Jack Elriani made history in the No. 3 match, defeating Arihant Kalamangalam Sunil 11-6, 11-4, 11-7 to send Team USA into its first World Junior Men’s Team final.
“This means the world to us, it’s been about ten years in the making, with generations of juniors coming through the pipeline,” said Karim Ibrahim, US Squash Director of Junior National Teams. “When we equalled our highest finish last year with third in Houston, that was bittersweet for us and we came here wanting to go all the way and challenge in the final. And these players deserve it they’ve worked extremely hard for it.”
The U.S. Junior Women’s Team entered the team competition seeded third, and fulfilled their seeding by reaching the semifinals where they faced two seeds Hong Kong on Thursday.
Captain Alexandra Jaffe earned a point for the U.S., taking the opening match 3-0 against Tsz-Ching Cheung. The two seeds responded, however, taking the ensuing No. 3 match with Helen Tang defeating Charlotte Pastel 3-1. No. 2 Ena Kwong sealed the match for Hong Kong in a close deciding match against Samantha Jaffe 12-10, 11-5, 6-11, 11-5.
The U.S. women will take home bronze medals.
