Egyptian finals in world squash

Egypt’s burgeoning army of young players wept aside all opposition to ensure that both the men’s and women’s titles in the WSF Junior World Championships remain with them as was the case last year. The two non-Egyptians in contention – Pakistan’s Danish Atlas Khan among men and England’s Emily Whitlock among women – fell by the wayside in the semi-finals yesterday to allow Egypt a free run in today’s finals. Top seeded Marwan El Shorbagy will take on the second seeded Mohamed Abouelghar, while Nour El Sherbini, the world’s top-ranked junior woman player, will take on Yathreb Adel. Yesterday El Shorbagy survived another tricky encounter as he prevailed over Khan 12-10, 11-7, 5-11, 11-4 in 57 minutes. Khan became the third Pakistani who El Shorbagy defeated on the way to the final and the Egyptian was quick to praise his beaten rival.“I’m happy to be in the final again. Danish is a great player, I played him in the British Open Junior, I was expecting a tough match, and it was. He’s got such a tight game, hard to play,” said El Shorbagy.  “This title is everybody’s dream, and I’m one step away from living it for the second time,” added El Shorbagy who is aiming to emulate his brother, Mohamed, who also won the title two times. The second men’s semi-final proved a cracker. For the second time in a row second seed Abouelghar came from two-nil down, saved two match balls, again, to eventually beat compatriot Mazen Hesham 14/12 in the fifth after an hour’s play. Abouelghar couldn’t stop finding the tin in the first game and a half, but even after he had settled it was far from easy as he just failed to pull back in the second and won the next three games from 9-7, 9-8 and saved two match balls in the decider. Earlier, women’s top seed Nour El Sherbini was the first player to reach the finals, but the hot favourite didn’t have it all her own way as compatriot Mariam Metwally put up a real fight after scoring just two points in the opening game. The 15-year-old built a lead in the second and levelled, but couldn’t hold on to 8/5 in the third as Sherbini, the 2009 champion, stormed back to take the match. The second women’s semi-final was interrupted when Adel collided with Whitlock in midcourt, leaving the English second seed needing time to recover. The Egyptian was leading 11/8, 9/7 at the time. On the resumption of the girls’ match, at 9/7 to Adel, it was Whitlock who secured the first two points to level, but after missing game ball at 10/9 and saving one at 10/11 it was the Egyptian who took it 13/11 double her advantage.