England’s Emily Whitlock was knocked out of the Doha WSF World Junior Squash Championships – after Yathreb Adel upset the No2 seed in the women’s semi-finals of the World Squash Federation in the Qatar capital Doha.
The match was interrupted when 3/4 seed Adel – leading 11-8, 9-7 – collided with her English opponent, leaving the second seed needing time to recover.
On the resumption of the match, it was Whitlock who secured the first two points to draw level – but, after missing game ball at 10-9 and saving one at 10-11, it was the Egyptian who took it 13-11 to double her advantage.
Whitlock held a slender lead for the early part of the third game, but from six-all 16-year-old Adel assumed the ascendancy to take the match 11-8, 13-11, 11-7 and guarantee two Egyptian champions.
Unsurprisingly, Egypt were confirmed as top seeds for the Doha WSF Men’s World Junior Team Championship which will follow the individual championships. The title-holders are expected to face second seeds Pakistan in the final for the fifth time in a row. England will be hoping to cause an upset to the seedings and push for a final place themselves.
Qualifying Pool line-ups (seeding in brackets):
Pool A: 1 EGYPT, 12 KUWAIT, [13/18] SWITZERLAND, ARGENTINA
Pool B: 2 PAKISTAN, 11 NEW ZEALAND, [13/18] SOUTH AFRICA, IRAQ
Pool C: 3 ENGLAND, 10 CANADA, [13/18] BELGIUM, ZIMBABWE
Pool D: 4 INDIA, 9 AUSTRALIA, [13/18] GERMANY, QATAR
Pool E: 5 HONG KONG CHINA, 8 COLOMBIA, [13/18] JAPAN
Pool F: 6 USA, 7 FRANCE, [13/18] BRAZIL, GUATEMALA
Men’s semi-finals:
1 Marwan El Shorbagy (EGY) bt [3/4] Danish Atlas Khan (PAK) 12-10, 11-7, 5-11, 11-4 (58m)
2 Mohamed Abouelghar (EGY) bt [3/4] Mazen Hesham Ga Sabry (EGY) 2-11, 9-11, 11-8, 11-9, 14-12 (60m)
Women’s semi-finals:
1 Nour El Sherbini (EGY) bt [5/8] Mariam Ibrahim Metwally (EGY) 11-2, 8-11, 11-9, 11-6 (38m)
[3/4] Yathreb Adel (EGY) bt 2 Emily Whitlock (ENG) 11-8, 13-11, 11-7 (45m)
Full coverage on the official website: www.wsfworldjuniors.com