Egypt secures 5 Gold, 3 Silver, 8 Bronze Medals at BJO Squash Championship

By: Maydaa Abo El-Nadar

Birmingham, Jan. 8 (SEE)- Egyptian Squash Champions started 2019 with a remarkable victory, winning five gold, three silver, and eight bronze medals, at the Dunlop British Junior Squash Open Championship.

The championship is an annual event that takes place in Birmingham, England, and is considered the most iconic and prestigious tournament on the junior circuit. 2019’s event was the tournament’s 93rd edition and was held from the second to the sixth of January.

The tournament is pided to boys and girls competitions. It is subpided to ten competitions: girls under-19 (GU19), boys under-19 (BU19), girls under -15 (GU15), boys under-15 (BU15), girls under-17 (GU17), boys under-17 (BU17), girls under-13 (GU13), boys under-13 (BU13), girls under-11 (GU11), and boys under-11 (BU11).

Egyptian champions Mostafa Asal, Hania El-Hammamy, Yehia El-Nawasany, Salma El-Tayeb, and Amina Orfi won gold. Fayrouz Abouelkheir, Jana Shiha, and Chris Baddour achieved silver. The eight bronze medals were obtained by Shahad Hani, Seif El-Deen Dahshan, Nour Khafagy, Kareem El-Torky, Sana Ibrahim, Karim Abdelim Elbarbary, Farida Mohamed, and Omar El-Torky.

Asal won the BU19’s final against English Nick Wall, by a score of 3-1 (11-4/11-7/4-11/11-5). At the GU19’s final, El-Hammamy beat her compatriot Shiha by a result of 3-0 (11-4/11-7/11-3). Mohamed and Omar El-Torky won bronze, at the GU19 and BU19, respectively, after the former defeated English Elise Lazarus by 3-1 (11-6/6-11/16-14/12-10), and the later won over Malaysian Siow Yee Xian by 3-0 (11-8/11-5/11-2).

At the BU17’s final, El-Nawasany won over English Sam Todd by 3-2 (3-11/7-11/11-6/11-2/11-6). After Ibrahim beat her compatriot Nour Khaled Aboulmakarim by 3-2 (13-11/6-11/4-11/11-5/11-7), she became the GU17’s bronze medalist. Winning against Pakistani Haris Qasim, by 3-0 (11-7/11-9/7-11/11-9), Elbarbary achieved the BU17’s bronze medal.

Thanks to defeating Malaysia’s Aira Azman by 3-2 (11-8/9-11/7-11/15-13/11-7), El-Tayeb was the GU15’s champion. Kareem El-Torky won over Pakistani Noor Zaman by 3-2 (4-11/2-11/11-9/11-7/11-5), so he won the BU15’s bronze.

Moving to the GU13’s category, Orfi triumphed against her compatriot Abouelkheir by (11-7/13-11/11-2), so the former won gold and the later won silver. At the match played to determine the bronze medalist, Khafagy beat her compatriot Salma El-Sheikh by 3-1 (11-4/12-14/11-6/11-6).

Baddour won silver after he lost to Malaysian Nickhileswar Moganasundharam, by 3-1 (9-11/11-7/11-4/11-6), at the BU11’s final. Dahshan beat Malaysian Jayden Oon by 3-1 (11-6/9-11/11-7/11-8), at the BU11’s play-off match, so the Egyptian player became the bronze medalist. Regarding the GU11’s play-off, Sohayla Hazem Farouk lost to her compatriot Hani, so the later won bronze.