Seeds Advance as Lorentzen wins
July 22, 2005, by Martin Bronstein, Bloso Sports, Herentals Belgium
Squashtalk Independent News; © 2005 SquashTalk LLC

SQUASH BLOSSOMS IN BLOSO

The Blaso all-glass court (photo © 2005 Martin Bronstein)

The cream of the world’s junior squash players (female) descended on this small town east of Antwerp to play in the Bloso sports hall which is part of a huge sprawling sports which apart from its nine squash courts, offers an ice rink, swimming pool, netball and footbal courts.

The Blosso is just two years old and is ideal for a world championship boasting as it does a sparkling new ASB all-glass court as a permanent fixture.

Action started yesterday on the individual tournament with 107 players from 20 countries aiming for the final next Tuesday.

The top three seeds, Joshna Chinappa of India, Raneem El Weleily of Egypt and Charlie de Ryke of Belgium are not expected to be troubled on the way to the semis. In previous world women’s junior tournaments there has always been a hot favourite, going back to Sarah Fitz-Gerald in 1987 through to Nicol David of Malaysai – a double winner – and the reigning champion Omneya Abdel Kawy. They way Ryke has been playing of late suggests that Chinappa will not find the route to the trophy as easy as her predecessors. El Weleily has an enormous amount of international experience under her belt and will almost be a factor in the final run up.

Hong Kong's Joey Chan (photo © 2005 Martin Bronstein)

De Rycke beat Nabilla Ariffin of Malaysia 27/0 while Chinappa dropped a point in knocking out Jackie Moss of Canada in the second round. Weleily, displaying frightening confidence, had walk-through victories in the second and third rounds over French and Welsh opponents.

England had a bad day today as all four team members were beaten, leaving English player to fight for glory. Another former power, Australia, lost their top three players to injuries before the tournament began an are expected to finish even lower than their nineth seeding in next week’s team tournament.

Kristen Lange of the US had to work hard in beating Lotte Erikson of Norway 9-6 in the fifth, but then met top see Chinappa to go down in three. US team-mate Lily Lorentzen had an easy 3/0 victory over Laura Gemmell of Canada. On the negative side,Britt Ebden, Emery Maine and Logan Greer of the US all went out. Greer actually led Misaki Kobayashi of Japan 2/1 in games but narrowly lost the fourth 7-9 and the fifth 5-9.

The one wind change that is noticeable in these early rounds is the emergence of the Far East countries with Hong Kong and Japan notching up significant victories over fancied opponents.

A series of upsets in the third round of the Women's World Junior Squash Championship in Herentals, Belgium, will leave the last sixteen of the biennial tournament devoid of any English representation for the first time in the event's 24-year history.

Malaysia's unseeded Siti Munirah Jusoh removed 9/16 seed Rachel Willmott, the England U19 number one, 1-9 9-1 9-5 9-7 to set up a fourth round meeting with India's top seed Joshna Chinappa.

Jusoh's compatriot Wee Wern Low also pulled off a significant upset when she despatched Hong Kong's 5/8 seed Annie Au 9-4 9-5 9-6. However, Hong Kong will be represented by three further players in the next round - with unseeded Shin Nga Leung being the most unexpected of the trio after beating England's Emma Chorley 10-9 4-9 9-7 9-1.

The only match to go to five games saw another England collapse when Egypt's unseeded Heba Ahmed claimed a surprise place in the last sixteen with a 9-7 7-9 0-9 10-8 9-1 win over Fiona Moverley.

3rd round:
[1] Joshna Chinappa (IND) bt [17/32] Kristen Lange (USA) 9-2, 9-6, 9-3
Siti Munirah Jusoh (MAS) bt [9/16] Rachel Willmott (ENG) 1-9, 9-1, 9-5, 9-7
Shin Nga Leung (HKG) bt Emma Chorley (ENG) 10-9, 4-9, 9-7, 9-1
[9/16] Joey Chan (HKG) bt [17/32] Kerry Wickett (NZL) 9-5, 9-4, 9-0
[9/16] Joelle King (NZL) bt [17/32] Soraya Renai (FRA) 9-5, 4-9, 9-3, 9-4
[5/8] Sara Badr (EGY) bt Amanda Siebert (USA) 9-3, 9-0, 9-1
Heba Ahmed (EGY) bt [17/32] Fiona Moverley (ENG) 9-7, 7-9, 0-9, 10-8, 9-1
[3] Charlie de Rycke (BEL) bt [17/32] Samantha Davies (AUS) 9-2, 9-2, 9-0
[4] Tenille Swartz (RSA) bt [17/32] Sandra Krueger (GER) 9-1, 9-2, 9-0
[9/16] Camille Serme (FRA) bt [17/32] Ashley Clackson (CAN) 9-6, 9-6, 9-7
[17/32] Wee Wern Low (MAS) bt [5/8] Annie Au (HKG) 9-4, 9-5, 9-6
[9/16] Nehal Yehia (EGY) bt Suzannah King (ENG) 9-3, 8-10, 9-1, 9-5
[9/16] Sally Looi (MAS) bt Misaki Kobayashi (JPN) 10-8, 9-1, 9-2
[5/8] Lily Lorentzen (USA) bt Alia Magdy Balbaa (EGY) 9-1, 9-0, 9-0
[9/16] Ka Kei Chiu (HKG) bt [17/32] Deon Saffery (ENG) 9-4, 9-2, 9-1
[2] Raneem El Weleily (EGY) bt Jessica Bevan (WAL) 9-6, 9-2, 9-2

NEW ... Get the New Jonathon Power Instruction Video at the SquashTalk eStore!

\

Squashtalk.com All materials © 1999-2005. Communicate with us at info@squashtalk.com.
Published by Squashtalk LLC, 409 Massachusetts Ave, Suite 102, Acton, MA 01720 USA, Editor and Publisher Ron Beck,
Graphics editor Debra Tessier Send comments, ideas, contributions and feedback to the webmaster.
Copyright © 1999-2005 SquashTalk, all rights reserved, may not be reproduced in any form except for one-time personal use.