A number of long-standing records fell on an exhilarating quarter-finals day at the 2024 WSF World Junior Team Squash Championships at Houston Squash Club, USA.

In the men’s event, Colombia and Republic of Korea reached the semi-finals for the first time, while in the women’s event Canada achieved a first semi-final since 1987.

Team USA also earned a national record medal haul, with the women’s and men’s teams guaranteed at least bronzes after quarter-final wins, to accompany the bronze medal won by Caroline Fouts in the individual event.

Colombia went into the team event having fallen short of the high expectations they set for themselves in the individual event last week, with none of their players progressing beyond the round of 16.

The South American side have found redemption in the team event, however, earning a quarter-final berth for the first time with a 2-0 win over Kuwait.

Today, they went one better, going into the record books with a brilliant display against five-time champions Pakistan.

Things started poorly for Colombia as Pakistan edged into the lead thanks to a hotly-contested 3-2 win for Abdullah Nawaz, before Juan Torres came from a game down to beat an out of sorts Hamza Khan to send the tie to a decider. In the crucial match, a stop-start and at times bad-tempered encounter, Jose Santamaria proved to be the hero as he fought back from a game down to beat Muhammad Ammad 4-11, 14-12, 11-8, 12-10.

Colombia’s coach Martin Knight said afterwards: “I think the emotion out there from the crowd says it all! It was the first time we’d reached the top ten but we weren’t content with that. I was fully confident that we could win. As a country, Colombia, we’ve increased participation, levels and training and we knew coming in that we had a very good team. It didn’t go as well as we’d have liked in the individuals, but we knew the depth we had and were confident that if we put in a good performance today we’d have every chance.”

Colombia will take on top seeds Egypt after they overcame defending champions England 2-0.

The other men’s semi-final will be contested by Republic of Korea and USA, with Republic of Korea beating India and USA downing South Africa.

Republic of Korea’s men’s team have turned squash’s established order on its head over the past week, with 17-year-old Joo Young Na’s stunning run to the individual final capturing headlines.

Today, Na and his compatriots proved that was no fluke, with Na and Kun Kim fighting back to guarantee a medal for the No.4 seeds after Yuvraj Wadhwani had given India the lead.

Afterwards, Kim said: “This is the the tournament that all junior athletes dream of.”

“We trusted each other, and I think the results have come because of that trust,” Seojin Oh added.

In the women’s draw, Canada returned to the last four for the first time in 37 years thanks to valiant efforts from twins Spring and Ocean Ma.

Spring Ma got the 5/6 seeds off to a dream start with a surprisingly routine win over Tsz Ching Cheung, before Ocean Ma dug in to record a bruising 11-9, 11-5, 9-11, 12-10 victory to the joy – and tears – of her teammates.

“It’s huge for Squash Canada and for our women,” Canada coach Victoria Lust said.

“I think it really shows the progression in our women’s game and how many women we’ve got playing now. It’s awesome and we’re very excited!

“I’m so proud of them. We couldn’t have asked for more from them.”

Canada will go up against defending champions Egypt, who crushed New Zealand 2-0.

The other semi-final will see hosts USA take on Malaysia. USA breezed past England to secure semi-finals for the second year in succession, while Malaysia came through an epic battle with India, with Doyce Lee recovering from 1-2 and 4-9 down in game four to beat Nirupama Dubey 11-7, 7-11, 5-11, 12-10, 11-3.

The semi-finals of the 2024 WSF World Junior Team Championships take place tomorrow, 22 July, from 10:00 (GMT-5).

Head to WORLDSQUASH.TV to watch all the action live and free.

Results: 2024 WSF World Junior Team Championships – Women’s Quarter-Finals

[1] Egypt 2-0 [9/10] New Zealand
Nadien Elhammamy bt Anabel romero Gemmell 3-0: 11-6, 11-1, 11-0
Fayrouz Aboelkheir bt Ella Lash 3-0: 11-4, 11-3, 11-5
Janna Swaify w/d Ella Hill

[5/6] Canada 2-0 [4] Hong Kong, China
Spring Ma bt Tsz Ching Cheung 3-0: 11-7, 12-10, 11-4
Ocean Ma bt Ena Kwong 3-1: 11-9, 11-5, 9-11, 12-10
Maria Min w/d Helen Tang

[3] Malaysia 2-1 [5/6] India
Whitney Wilson bt Shameena Riaz 3-0: 11-7, 11-3, 12-10
Thanusaa Uthrian lost to Anahat Singh 2-3: 11-6, 13-15, 6-11, 11-5, 6-11
Doyce Lee bt Nirupama Dubey 3-2: 11-7, 7-11, 5-11, 12-10, 11-3

[2] USA 3-0 [7/8] England
Riya Navani bt Mariam Eissa 3-0: 11-6, 11-3, 11-5
Caroline Fouts bt Amelie Haworth 3-0: 11-2, 11-9, 11-4
Sam Jaffe bt Emily Coulcher-Porter 2-0: 11-9, 11-6

Results: 2024 WSF World Junior Team Championships – Men’s Quarter-Finals

[7] USA 2-0 [13/16] South Africa
Rishi Srivastava bt Connor Earl 3-0: 11-5, 11-3, 11-4
Zane Patel bt Luhann Groenewald 3-1: 12-10, 11-9, 7-11, 11-9
Alexander Dartnell w/d Devon Osborne

[4] Republic of Korea 2-1 [6] India
Seojin Oh lost to Yuvraj Wadhwani 2-3: 7-11, 11-4, 11-7, 7-11, 6-11
Joo Young Na bt Shaurya Bawa 3-1: 11-9, 6-11, 11-9, 11-6
Kun Kim beat Arihant KS 3-0: 11-7, 11-6, 11-9

[5] Colombia 2-1 [3] Pakistan
Juan Irisarri lost to Abdullah Nawaz 2-3: 8-11, 12-10, 11-9, 3-11, 7-11
Juan Torres bt Hamza Khan 3-1: 11-13, 11-9, 11-8, 11-3
Jose Santamaria bt Muhammad Ammad 3-1: 4-11 14-12 11-8 12-10

[1] Egypt 2-0 [8] England
Marwan Assal bt Yusuf Sheikh 3-1: 13-11, 9-11, 11-6, 11-6
Mohamad Zakaria bt AbdAllah Eissa 3-0: 11-8, 11-8, 11-8
Marwan Abdelsalam w/d Bailey Malik

Draw: 2024 WSF World Junior Team Championships – Women’s Semi-Finals

[1] Egypt v [5/6] Canada
[3] Malaysia v [2] USA

Draw: 2024 WSF World Junior Team Championships – Men’s Semi-Finals

[7] USA v [4] Republic of Korea
[5] Colombia v [1] Egypt

Click here to view all the results from day four of the team events and click here to view the schedule for tomorrow, including in the consolation draws.

The 2024 WSF World Junior Squash Championships are taking place at Houston Squash Club, Texas, from 12-23 July. Find all the key information here.

Keep up with all the action at wsfworldjuniors.com.

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