With a father who was 12 time national squash champion, if a son has any sense, the last thing he would do is take up squash .

But 17 year old Laurens Jan Anjema speaks with intelligence and dismisses the possible competition with his father in the squash world. "Nowadays it is impossible for anybody to be national champion 12 times. The game is much too physical. My father was 18 when he won the title first - that was 30 years ago. Everything has changed," he says. His father, Robert, now runs an ad agency in The Hague and still plays squash. (Lauren says he gives him one or two points when they play).

Laurens picked up his first squash racket when he was eight years old, but he also picked up a hockey stick and tennis racket at the same time. He didn't take squash seriously until he about 13 and when he found that hockey clashed with his weekend squash tournaments, he gave that up. It was only two years ago that tennis got the same treatment. "One day when I was on the tennis court, and I suddenly wondered what I was doing there because I wasn't serious about it and I didn't want to become a tennis professional," he remembers.

He is, however, serious about squash; after a school day that lasts from 8am to 4pm, he goes home to do his homework and then goes to the squash club to train for two hours- and that's every day of the week. "I definitely want to become a squash professional, but I will go to university first to study engineering," he claims.

I asked him what was the biggest learning experience he gained from these world championships. "You have to stand on the court as your own man - not be a nobody. You must be full of self confidence. That's very important."

He reached the last 32 in the individual championship losing to Hisham Ashour of Egypt 9-5 in the fifth. He feels fairly happy with his performance but know where he went wrong. " I played quite well but I played some stupid shots on important points. That is a pity because for a tournament like this you train for 10 weeks and all those weeks of preparation come down to one game in the end and you play a stupid shot on one point.That is really a shame when you think about it that way," he says frankly.

And where will 12th seeded Netherlands end up in the team tournament? "First!" followed a by a huge laugh, and then: "We'll definitely beat our seeding," said with great confidence. Netherlands have participated in seven out of 11 world junior championships and finished in 10th place two years ago in Princeton, where the young Anjema played in the individuals.