The 2021 World Junior Squash Championships – originally scheduled to take place in August, 2021 in Cairo, Egypt – has been postponed due to the ongoing impact of the global COVID-19 pandemic.
The World Junior Squash Championships is the most prestigious junior squash tournament in the world and the World Squash Federation (WSF) will work closely with the Egyptian Squash Federation to hold the tournament at a later date in 2021.
The decision has been made by the WSF Board of Directors following the recommendation of the WSF Junior Commission.
“Whilst we are naturally disappointed to postpone the World Junior Squash Championships, the situation surrounding international travel and the health and safety issues that remain as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic make postponing the tournament a logical choice,” said WSF Chief Executive William Louis-Marie.
“We believe that by postponing the tournament, we can focus our efforts on creating a safe environment to compete, while giving all of our Member Federations equal opportunity to enter teams into the championships. At the moment, the differing travel restrictions affecting countries around the world makes this impossible.
“We are in close contact with the Egyptian Squash Federation to find alternative dates later on in the year, and we hope to be able to provide a further update in the coming months.”
Egyptian Squash Federation President Assem Khalifa said: “Our objective is to bring the best junior players in the world to Egypt for the WSF World Junior Squash Championships and postponing the tournament to later this year will enable us to do so, which is important to support the squash community in these trying times.
“I have full confidence in our capacity to host the tournament later on in 2021 and look forward to welcoming the juniors from all over the world and giving them a taste of the Egyptian culture.”