Egypt’s women have won an unprecedented ninth consecutive WSF World Junior Team Championship title after taking down tournament hosts USA at Houston Squash Club, USA.
Egypt’s women’s team has been squash’s preeminent power for over two decades, appearing in every final from 2003 onwards and winning all but one of those.
Today, they further underlined their dominance to record a routine 2-0 win to ensure that four-time runners up USA’s hunt for a maiden title continues.
In the first match, Amina Orfi – who earlier this week won a record third consecutive individual title – once again proved to be Egypt’s talisman as she saw off US first string Caroline Fouts.
Orfi took the first game comfortably before being tested more closely by Fouts in game two, with the American upping the pace in a scrappy contest.
The Egyptian, however, was able to maintain a consistent lead, doubling her advantage with an 11-6 win before seeing off Fouts 11-4 in game three.
In the second match, Fayrouz Aboelkheir – who alongside Orfi was a key part of Egypt’s title win in Melbourne last year – was in equally strong from as she breezed past Riya Navani in straight games.
The 18-year-old looked composed on court from the opening rally, controlling proceedings and avoiding errors as she took the opener 11-4.
As with the last match, there were glimmers of an American comeback in the second game, but Aboelkheir was able to weather the brief storm, taking the second game 11-7 before ensuring the title would stay in Egyptian hands with a comfortable 11-5 win in game three.
That win means Egypt made it through the entire tournament without dropping a game, yet alone a match, across their six ties.
Afterwards, Egypt’s coach Omneya Abdel Kawy said: “It feels great to get the titles in consecutive years. It’s a record for them and for me as a coach. We had the goal to do that and thanks to God it was mission accomplished!
“We have a young team who are really good and we’re trying to build that good, young team with spirit so they can keep going for several years. It’s good to be stable as a team, changing one or two but the rest of the team having that experience. It makes it easier for them not to feel the pressure and just to play their best.
“Thanks to God we have this quality and were able to do this.
“I think [the team is so dominant] because our men’s and women’s [professional players] are the top players as well so [the juniors] are looking up to them but also training with them. The senior players don’t hesitate to come and train with them and encourage them. And we have a lot of tournaments in Egypt, which is good for us. And the girls train with boys as well, that’s the main thing!”
Result: WSF World Junior Team Championship Women’s Final
[1] Egypt 2-0 [2] USA
Amina Orfi bt Caroline Fouts 3-0: 11-3, 11-6, 11-4
Fayrouz Aboelkheir bt Riya Navani 3-0: 11-4, 11-7, 11-5
Nadien Elhammamy w/d Samantha Jaffe
Despite the defeat, USA will take pride from a successful two weeks of squash in Houston after the men’s team won bronze and Caroline Fouts won and individual bronze to accompany today’s silver medal.
The men’s team final, between Egypt and Republic of Korea, takes place today at 14:30 (GMT-5).
Click here to view all the results from the last day of the team events.
The 2024 WSF World Junior Squash Championships took place at Houston Squash Club, Texas, from 12-23 July.
Keep up with all the action at wsfworldjuniors.com.
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