EGYPTIAN DELIGHT MATCHED BY ENGLISH DESPAIR
Whilst Egypt celebrated successes in six of the eight finals in the Eye Group British Junior Open Squash Championships in Sheffield, hosts England were left without a single victory in the world's most prestigious junior tournament for the first time since 1980.
The blow came in the concluding match at Abbeydale Club, the final of the blue riband Men's Under-19 event, when Yorkshire's James Willstrop lost 9-5 9-7 9-4 in 55 minutes to Frenchman Gregory Gaultier, who won the sport's prized Drysdale Cup for the first time.
It was the fourth successive loss for the 17-year-old from Pontefract against the year-older full-time player from Aix-en-Provence, and a disappointing end to a great tournament for the talented youngster who already has British Junior Open wins at U14 and U17 and, unlike his opponent, a further chance to add the U19 title next year.
England also went down in the women's U19 final when Egypt's top seed Omneya Abdel Kawy beat Yorkshire's Jenny Duncalf, the second seed from Harrogate, 9-4 9-2 6-9 9-4 - Duncalf being the first player in the tournament to take a game against the highly-talented 15-year-old who represented Egypt in last year's senior world championships.
England's third finalist Tom Richards, from Surrey, also took a game in the Men's U15 final but was unable to stop Egypt's top seed Rami Ashour march on to his third successive British Junior Open title with a 5-9 9-1 9-5 9-2 victory.
In the women's U17 final, Michelle Quibell became the first ever American British Junior Open champion when she ended the run of unseeded Australian Kasey Brown in a 9-1 9-0 9-4 scoreline.
