Egypt’s men’s team completed a dream finals day as they followed up the women’s team’s title win with victory over Republic of Korea in the men’s final to recapture the championship after six years.
In a repeat of the men’s individual final, Mohamad Zakaria went up against Joo Young Na in an exciting first string match.
Na was able to open up a narrow lead in game one, harassing Zakaria all over the court to put the world champion under pressure.
Eventually, though, Zakaria was able to get the measure of his opponent, pulling level and then moving ahead with an 11-8 win.
Na continued to go on the attack in game two, throwing the kitchen sink at Zakaria and hitting several winners as he built a 7-4 lead.
Once again, however, Zakaria was equal to the challenge, digging in and doubling his advantage with an 11-9 victory.
From here, it was one way traffic, with the Egyptian pushing on to give his side the lead with a routine 11-4 win in game three.
In the second match, Marwan Asal – who today celebrated his 16th birthday – came through an entertaining encounter with Kun Kim.
Asal appeared to be in complete control early on, with Kim’s accuracy lacking and allowing the Egyptian to bring his fearsome attacking weaponry to the fore.
After taking the first two games, Asal was pegged back in game three by a resurgent Kim, with the Korean frustrating a tiring Asal en route to an 11-7 win.
The Egyptian rediscovered his momentum and fire in game four, however, driving on to win 11-6 and hand Egypt their first title since 2018, when his older brother Mostafa was part of the squad that lifted the trophy in Chennai, India.
Reaction to follow.
Result: WSF World Junior Team Championship Men’s Final
[1] Egypt 2-0 [4] Republic of Korea
Mohamad Zakaria bt Joo Young Na 3-0: 11-8, 11-9, 11-4
Marwan Asal bt Kun Kim 3-1: 11-5, 11-4, 7-11, 11-6
Marwan Abdelsalam w/d Jeong Uk Ryu
Click here to view all the results from the last day of the team events.
The 2024 WSF World Junior Squash Championships took place at Houston Squash Club, Texas, from 12-23 July. Find all the key information here.
Keep up with all the action at wsfworldjuniors.com.
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