The USA’s Shahjahan Khan says he is ready to compete to bring home the USA’s first ever gold medal in squash at the 2022 World Games in Birmingham, following the announcement of the squads for the 23 nations that will be competing in Alabama, USA.
Khan, who was born in Pakistan but is a long-term US resident and gained US citizenship in 2019, is the US men’s No.1 and is currently ranked World No.31, having risen to a career-best World No.30 earlier this year.
The 27-year-old said: “Alhamdulillah [praise be to God], being selected to represent USA is something that will always make me feel extremely proud. There’s always been great support from my team at US Squash, people like my coaches Zarak Khan, Ong Beng Hee, Bridget and Bader Khan, plus the family support is definitely a blessing.
“I’ve been feeling in great condition recently and after my highest world ranking and being the No.1 US player this year I am ready to give it all for Team USA to try to bring home a gold, Insha’Allah.”
Joining Khan for the USA men’s squad is World No.36 Todd Harrity and World No.51 Faraz Khan, while representing the USA in the women’s squad will be World No.49 Haley Mendez and World No.62 Marina Stefanoni.
The highest ranked woman competing in Birmingham will be 24-year-old World No.15 Tinne Gilis, who will be Belgium’s sole representative at this year’s World Games.
Gilis, who made the last 16 of the World Championship earlier this year and reached the semi-finals of the Cleveland Classic on U.S. soil, said: “I’m really looking forward to playing in Birmingham this summer.
“Representing your country is always special and I have great memories of representing Belgium at world, European and junior championships and it’s an honour to be doing so at the World Games.”
Battling Gilis for the coveted title will be two representatives for defending champions France, with World No.29 Melissa Alves and World No.40 Coline Aumard vying to keep the title in French hands after Camille Serme’s victory in Wrocław 2017.
In the men’s competition, Germany’s defending World Games champion Simon Rösner returns to defend his 2017 title, though he will no doubt face fierce competition from compatriot Raphael Kandra, while Peruvian World No.5 Diego Elias will be hoping to capture a first gold medal in squash for his country.
Three nations will be making their squash debuts at this summer’s World Games, with Argentina, China and Ecuador sending representatives for the first time.
The 2022 World Games will be held in Birmingham, USA, between 7-17 July 2022. The event, which this year celebrates its 40th anniversary, is an international multi-sport competition comprising sports that are not contested in the Olympic Games.
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List of squads for 2022 World Games
Argentina Men: Jeremias Azaña
Argentina Women:
Australia Men: Rhys Dowling, Joseph White
Australia Women: Jessica Turnbull, Alex Haydon
Belgium Men:
Belgium Women: Tinne Gilis
Brazil Men: Guilherme Melo, Vinicius Leão Rodrigues
Brazil Women: Thaisa Serafini
Canada Men: David Baillargeon
Canada Women: Hannah Blatt, Nikki Todd
China Men:
China Women: Jia Liu
Colombia Men: Ronald Palomino, Miguel Rodriguez
Colombia Women:Lucia Bautista, Laura Tovar
Czech Republic Men: Jakub Solnický, Martin Svec
Czech Republic Women: Anne Serme
Ecuador Men:
Ecuador Women: Maria Moya López
England Men: Nathan Lake
England Women: Lucy Beecroft
Finland Men:
Finland Women: Emilia Korhonen, Emilia Soini
France Men: Victor Crouin, Grégoire Marche, Baptiste Masotti
France Women: Melissa Alves, Coline Aumard
Germany Men: Raphael Kandra, Yannick Omlor, Simon Rösner
Germany Women: Saskia Beinhard & Katerina Tycova
Hong Kong Men: Lam Yat Ting
Hong Kong Women: Cheng Nga Ching, Fung Ching Hei
Hungary Men: Balázs Farkas
Hungary Women: Hannah Chukwu, Kincső Szász
Ireland Men: Sean Conroy
Ireland Women:
Japan Men:
Japan Women: Erisa Sano Herring, Satomi Watanabe
Peru Men: Diego Elías, Rafael Galvez
Peru Women:
Poland Men: Filip Jarota
Poland Women: Karina Tyma
Spain Men: Sergio Garcia
Spain Women:
Switzerland Men: Dimitri Steinmann, Yannick Wilhelmi
Switzerland Women: Nadia Pfister, Céline Walser
Ukraine Men: Valerii Fedoruk, Dmytro Scherbakov
Ukraine Women: Anastasiia Kostiukova, Nadiia Usenko
USA Men: Todd Harrity, Faraz Khan, Shahjahan Khan
USA Women: Haley Mendez, Marina Stefanoni