Director of Junior National Teams Karim Ibrahim has praised the camaraderie of the US teams in the WSF World Junior Team Championships, adding that he hopes they can go all the way to the final and perhaps even lift the titles on July 23rd.

Speaking after wins over Japan for both the women’s and men’s teams sent the hosts through to the quarter-final, Ibrahim said: “It’s really exciting to have both teams in the quarter-finals. It’s quite an accomplishment for us, we have a young women’s team and a slightly young and inexperienced men’s team. It means a lot for US Squash and the amount of work we have put in to be here.

“My responsibility of Director of Junior National Teams is to ensure we have the right coaches, players and staff around to work with the team. On the women’s side, we’ve finished second and our hope and goal is to go one step further. Egypt is such a dominant force but we’re excited to hopefully take it one step further. Players like Caroline Fouts and Riya Navani are playing in their third World Juniors and are very experienced at the junior level and in the PSA.

“On the men’s side, we’re excited to play South Africa who have been the dark horses of the tournament. It really means a lot for these kids to play on home soil, a lot of them are going to college this fall and some of them next year and I feel like the chemistry and camaraderie has been really special and we’re just really excited to go further and hopefully bring a title to our home country. Our best result in the men’s was third and if we could go one step further than that and make it to the final, that would be amazing.

“I’m so impressed by our players chemistry and maturity, on and off court. They all get along really well and are doing everything asked of them. They’ve listened to all the coaching and have been there for each other whenever one of them has been down. Our No.5 and No.6 have stayed for this tournament; they wanted to stay and support the team which is really amazing.

“I’m really impressed too by the organisation by [tournament host Jahanzeb Khan]. He’s put on a great professional level tournament. On my side as being Director, coaches like Scott, Luke, Simba and Olivia Clyne who is a legend of US Squash. It’s really exciting to have that team around, a real mix of backgrounds and cultures and I feel like we’re just getting started.”

The 2024 WSF World Junior Squash Championships are taking 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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