SquashTalk > USA Junior Olympics 2000 > Sunday

USA Virtually shut out in men's play; US women oust Kumar sisters; Emily Park shines

SquashTalk News © 2000

New Haven CT. Dec 18 2000, by Ron Beck

Create a big international event and the world will come...
Mexico's Moises Galvez advanced to meet New Zealand's Callum O Brien in the finals of the Junior Olympics Under 19 division. The USSRA has been successfully running the US Junior Olympics now for several years. This year, with no conflicts with the big UK junior events, a broader worldwide draw arrived.

For the men's side of the draws, this erased any American chances, with Julian Illingworth of Oregon seeing his comeback bid against O Brien fall short in the fifth game. He was the only American in the semi finals.

In the men's under 17s, semifinals were two Mexicans an Australian and a Canadian. Jhie Gough and Mauricio Sanchez have both done a pretty good job of mowing down their opponents in a strong field to reach the finals Monday. In the men's under 15s semifinalists were three Canadians and an American (Christoper Gordon from New York).

Maqbool the secret weapon?

And in the men's under 13's Adil Maqbool from Pakistan ran through Cesar Salazar from Mexico and now meets his brother Arturo Salazar in the finals. You can be pretty sure that when a boy less than 13 is brought to New Haven CT from Pakistan for a junior tournament, the Pakistanis must think he's pretty special.

The other boys are convinced: in 5 matches he's lost a total of 12 points! So don't count Pakistan out of the next decade of squash yet...

Kumar sisters denied
On the distaff side, the Americans fared better. In the under 19 division, Alexandra Pearson defeated Canada's Ruchika Kumar(inexplicably Ruchika wasn't seeded at all!) in one semifinal 6-9; 9-2; 9-7; 10-9 while Michelle Quibell downed Canada Jacqui Inward 3-0 after Inward had survived a tough quarterfinal battle with Philadelphia's Amy Gross, 9-5; 6-9; 0-9; 10-8; 9-1.

In the under 15 division, Lily Lorentzen put away Ruchika's sister, Neha Kumar in the semi finals. The Kumar sisters had scored a double win in the Canadian Open Juniors the week before.

Emily Park from New York swept through to the girls U13 finals with a series of easy wins.

Sunday Key Results:
Boys U19 Semis:
Moises Galvez (MEX) def Michael Ferriera (ENG and Trinity College) 9-3, 9-2, 9-5
Callum O Brien (NZ) def Julian Illingworth (USA) 9-3; 9-7; 8-10; 1-9; 9-4

Boys U17 Semis:
Jhie Gough (AUS) bt Jose Becerril (MEX) 9-1, 9-4, 9-5
Mauricio Sanchez (MEX) bt Mathew Serediak (CAN) 9-4, 9-0, 9-6

Girls U19 semis:
Alexandra Pearson (USA) bt Ruchika Kumar (CAN) 6-9; 9-2; 9-7; 10-9
Michelle Quibell (USA) bt Jacqui Inward (CAN) 3-0

Girls U19 Quarters:
Jacqui Inward (CAN) bt Amy Gross (USA) 9-5; 6-9; 0-9; 10-8; 9-1

Girls U17 semis:
Lauren M McCrery (USA) bt Miranda Ranieri (CAN) 9-4; 9-1; 6-9; 9-2
Jennifer Blumberg (CAN) bt Audrey Duboc (USA) 9-5; 5-9; 9-7; 9-3

Girls U15 semis:
Lily Lorentzen (USA) bt Neha Kumar (CAN) 5-9; 9-7; 9-5; 9-3

Girls U13 semis:
Emily Park (USA) bt Toby Eyre (USA) 9-7, 9-4, 9-0