Regions Refine Junior Talent In Preparation For NZ World Championships

Squash’s National Federations will be making full use of the WSF Regional Federation management of their regional junior championships – not only to compete for the titles but also to select and prepare squads for the 2017 WSF World Junior Squash Championships in New Zealand in July.

First this year will be European U19 Junior Individual & Team Championships, which will take place at both Lisboa Racket Centre and Lisboa Club Squash Olaias in the Portugal capital Lisbon from 8-16 April. The 2017 championships will feature 18 teams and more than 90 individual entries, with England bidding to defend their three titles.

Also in April, and in New Zealand, the Oceania Junior Championships will take place in Auckland between 14-17 April – three months ahead of the World Championships in the nearby city of Tauranga.

Paraguay will host the PanAmerican Junior Championships in Asuncion from 24-30 June – which will feature players from the breadth of North, Central and South America, plus the Caribbean.

But it will be after the World Championships in New Zealand that the Asian Junior Individual Championships will take in the Jordan capital Amman from 15-19 August at the El Hassan Squash Complex.

Dating back to 1983 in Singapore, the Asian Junior Individual Championships include legends Jansher Khan (Pakistan, 1985 & 1987) and Nicol David (Malaysia, 1999 & 2001) amongst its champions.

Also in August, the African Junior Open will take place in Cape Town, South Africa, from 18-20 August.

“The five WSF regions do a great job in provided an integrated structure for juniors, complementing the work of member nations,” said Andrew Shelley, CEO of the World Squash Federation. “There are regional championships in younger age groups too, while WSF link it all together with the national and regional championships forming the WSF World Junior Circuit.

“We take Under-19 results from national junior opens, along with the Regional and World Championships, to provide WSF World Junior Rankings. The Circuit is very much where the rising stars of the sport can make their mark as the best transition towards the PSA World Tour.”