Squash Section

January 2008

December 2007

October 2007

back to News page

British Junior - 01/08

For the fourth time since 2001, Egypt clinched six of the eight titles in the Tecnifibre British Junior Open Squash Championships in a dramatic climax to the world's most prestigious junior squash event in the Yorkshire city of Sheffield. With a record 11 finalists on the fifth and final day of the event - which attracted more than 450 competitors from all over the world - Egypt were represented in all but one of the finals!

Top-seeded Egyptian Mohamed El Shorbagy won the Boy's U19 title for the Drysdale Cup, beating France's 5/8 seed Gregoire Marche 9-6, 9-7, 9-1 in a 50-minute final. The UK-based 16-year-old from Alexandria ended domestic interest in the event after beating British National junior champion Adrian Waller in the previous round - and has now recorded his third successive British Junior Open triumph. In the only final without Egyptian interest, French favourite Camille Serme fought back from two games down to overcome Hong Kong's No2 seed Annie Au 7-9, 2-9, 9-3, 9-3, 9-7 in 69 minutes to win the Girl's U19 crown for the first time after finishing as runner-up in 2007. Karim Abdel Gawad produced one of the three upsets of the day in an all-Egyptian Boy's Under 17 final . The 5/8 seed, in his first appearance in a final, beat top seed Amr Khalid Khalifa - last year's U15 champion - 10-8, 9-7, 9-7 in 54 minutes.

It was 'fifth time lucky' and 'fifth time unlucky' in the climax of the Girl's U17 event. On course for her fifth British Junior Open title in a row, top-seeded Egyptian Heba El Torky crashed out 9-6, 5-9, 9-6, 1-9, 9-5 to India's Dipika Pallikal, a 5/8 seed.
"I've been coming for five years and never got past the quarter-finals, so to win the title is just unbelievable," the 16-year-old from Chennai told reporters.

Pakistan's only finalist Nasir Iqbal went down in the Boy's Under 15 final. The 3/4 seed, winner of the U13 trophy last year, was beaten 9-2, 9-6, 9-1 by Egypt's top seed Karim Ali Fathi, the U13 champion two years ago.
The all-Egyptian Girl's Under 15 climax also produced a win for a former U13 champion when second seed Nour El Tayeb beat 3/4 seed Menat Allah Naser 10-8, 9-0, 9-2.

The Boy's Under 13 final revealed the biggest upset of the day when Osama Khalid Khalifa defeated fellow Egyptian Shehab Essam, the top seed, 9-5, 9-0, 9-7. Khalifa, whose older brother was runner-up in the U17 final, was only seeded to reach the last 16 - but also despatched the event's No2 seed Dylan Murray on his way to the final.

The Girl's Under 13 final saw the swiftest win of the day when Egypt's top seed Nour El Sherbeny despatched compatriot Nouran Ibrahim, a 3/4 seed, 9-4, 9-1, 9-2 in just 20 minutes.

Annual Christmas Charity Tournament - 18/12/07

The Annual Christmas Charity Squash Event will be organized, in aid of Angela House Children’s Orphanage once again at the Marsa Sports Club on Tuesday 18th December from 19.00 – 21.00.
The fun squash evening will be a mixture of squash singles & doubles & racketball with players enjoying a squash social evening in aid of a good cause. Participation in the fun squash evening is not compulsory and non players are welcome to donate gifts.
The format is very simple.
All competitors bring as an entry fee a Christmas gift wrapped present that is valued Lm5 or more. The present should have either a pink or blue ribbon or pink or blue wrapping paper & have the name of the child clearly attached.

Colette Sultana wins bronze in Swiss Junior Open - 9/12/07

After finishing 4th in the Austrian Junior Open last March and winning the Plate in the British Junior Grand Prix in October, Colette Sultana has achieved yet another remarkable result in the Under 13 Girls category. This time she has won Bronze in the Swiss Junior Open that was held in Zurich on 7-9 December.
In the first round, the young Maltese player was grouped with tournament top seed Marie Stephan of France, Cindy Merlo of Switzerland and Melissa Mader of Austria. Knowing that it would be very difficult against the French girl, Sultana needed wins against the Swiss and the Austrian in order to secure a place in the semi-final. She won the first two matches in a very convincing manner, only dropping a total of 3 points to win 9/0 9/0 9/1 against Merlo and 9/0 9/2 9/0 against Mader.
Sultana conceded the third group match against Marie Stephan but not without a fight. Although Colette lost the match 7/9 0/9 9/6 1/9 she did very well to take a game off the French under 13 girls champion who is ranked 9th in Europe. In the semi-final against Yvonne Basel from Germany, Sultana started well and won the first game fairly easily. However, Basel came back strongly to snatch the next three games and win the match 9/1 2/9 1/9 5/9. The earlier very tough match against the French girl had clearly left Colette less fresh than the German who on her part had an easier morning qualifier leading to the semi-final. After a night’s rest Sultana was in great shape again for the match for Bronze against the Swiss number 1 player Kate Gadola. Although Gadola had home advantage it was the Maltese champion who took control of the match. Colette played some excellent squash to win the contest for 3rd and 4th place in straight sets 9/5 9/0 9/2.
The bronze medal is an excellent achievement for the Maltese junior player who continues to climb upwards in the European rankings. In fact Sultana will now overtake Gadola who is currently ranked 27th in Europe.
Next international tournament for Sultana will be the Austrian Junior Open in March of next year.
Colette’s outstanding progress would not have been possible without the guidance of her international coach Paul Lake and the support also of Malta Squash, Malta Olympic Committee, Malta Sports Council, Marsa Sports Club and Wilson Sporting Goods.
The next couple of years will be crucial for Colette as she will need to continue to participate regularly in international tournaments in order to maintain her steady progress at European level.
With further support, this promising young athlete is destined to become a top squash player for Malta.

Left to right: Yvonne Basel (Silver), Marie Stephan (Gold), Colette Sultana (Bronze)

England Beat Australia To Retain World Team Title In India

In a dramatic climax to the ICL World Men's Team Squash Championship - the 21st staging of the biennial event since 1967 - defending champions England fought back from a match down to beat long-time rivals Australia 2/1 in today's final at the ICL Squash Academy in Chennai, India.

The triumph marked the first final between Australia and England since 1991 - and the first ever England win over Australia in a world final! The victory also takes England's title tally to four since 1995, and stopped their rivals from extending their record to nine trophy triumphs.
The opening encounter was a battle between the teams' number ones, with Australia's former world champion David Palmer, ranked four in the world, facing Nick Matthew, the world No5 from Sheffield in Yorkshire. Their previous head-to-head tally showed Palmer 11-5 ahead, and the 31-year-old from New South Wales duly took the opening two games.

But the Englishman struck back to draw level - winning the fourth game for just two points. However, the experienced Aussie rediscovered his form and eventually ran out an 11-9, 11-9, 7-11, 2-11, 11-4 winner in 82 minutes.
Almost exactly five years ago, James Willstrop won the world junior individual championship on the same courts in Chennai. And, in his first time back in the former Madras since that success, the 24-year-old Englishman beat Stewart Boswell to level the tie.
But it was a tense and tight tussle, in which the world No6 from Yorkshire needed 65 minutes to overcome his lower-ranked opponent before prevailing 11-8, 11-7, 11-10 (2-0).

And the decider was no less dramatic - and only marginally shorter. But Englishman Peter Barker, in his maiden appearance in a world team championship, delivered an assured performance as he defeated Cameron Pilley - also a world championship newcomer - 11-6, 11-3, 11-8 in 60 minutes to clinch the title for England.

"We were represented by an exceptional group of players," said England Squash Chief Executive Nick Rider after the team's success. "Winning a world championship is difficult enough - and retaining it so convincingly is testament to the courage and determination of these world-class guys. We are immensely proud of them."

In the play-off for third place, third seeds France beat favourites Egypt 2/0, and Malaysia recorded their best ever finish by beating Canada 2/0 in the fifth place play-off. Hosts India marked their best finish since 1979, despite losing to Netherlands in the seventh place play-off.
Event newcomers Sri Lanka, Venezuela and Chinese Taipei finished in 26th, 27th and 29th places, respectively.

European Nations Challenge Cup - 10/07

Malta Ladies Squash Team have done it again.
Theresa Camilleri, back in squad after absence of 4 years, Annabelle Olivieri Monroe (Diamantino) and Johanna Rizzo made Malta proud by winning this ESF Prestigious tournament after participating with a full team for the 1st time . The team had to overcome teams from Latvia, Serbia, Russia, and Ukraine in the qualifier round and ended up in the semi finals against a strong Polish National Team.
National Coach Ivan Balzan rested Theresa and fielded Annabelle and Johanna who played brilliantly to win both matches which landed the girls in the final against favorites Isle of Man, both these girls did not conceded 1 set in their run up for the semi final. The match against Isle of Man was no easy game Annabelle was on first and after a slow start went on to win three sets to nil conceding only 6 points to her opponent. Theresa came on needing to a minimum 7 points to secure 1st place. She lost the 1st set 9 – 8 but Malta had already secured gold. The match followed by a large crowd was going into the Isle Of Man girls favor who incidentally had not lost 1 set during the whole tournament. She took the second set and was convinced that her brilliant run was to continue. However Theresa had a different idea. She produced the best squash ever and managed to win the next 3 sets in style .
A Malta Ladies guest team also took part in this tournament with veterans Liz Said, Tilly Enriquez and up and coming Cecilia Farrugia ending up with a memorable win against Ukraine at the end of the tournament.