USA and Hong Kong, China mounted entertaining comebacks on day two of the pools stage at the 2023 WSF Women’s World Junior Team Championship.
With teams playing a 1-3-2 string order, it was up to each team’s top player to set the tone.
On the first match on the glass court, No.3 seeds USA looked comfortable early on in their tie with No.5 seeds England, with first string Caroline Fouts racing into a 2-0 lead against Asia Harris.
Harris, however, battled back brilliantly, giving the five-time champions the lead with a hattrick of 11-6 wins before Riya Navani found parity for USA following a hard-fought win over Isabel McCullough.
In the decider against Amelie Haworth, Madison Ho edged a tense opening game 12-10, which she followed up with convincing 11-2, 11-4 wins to earn a crucial win for USA.
Afterwards, tie winner Ho said: “I just came in thinking ‘try not to think about the scoreline and just focus on what’s happening on court.’ I was going to do whatever it takes.
“I thought of the win as being like A-Z, I had to get through each letter first.
“I’m very happy, and grateful to my teammates for supporting me. It was a great battle!”
In the evening session, on Court Nine, Hong Kong, China launched a fightback of their own as Ena Kwong and Sze Wing Wai got the team out of trouble after Anahat Singh had beaten their first string Toby Tse to give India the lead.
Elsewhere, the higher seeded teams secured more comfortable wins: No.12 seeds Singapore impressed in a dominant win over No.13 seeds Ireland, No.2 seeds Malaysia cruised past hosts and No.8 seeds Australia to ensure they will top their pool, and top seeds Egypt took maximum points from Pool A with a 3-0 win against No.7 seeds Canada.
Today’s defeat for Australia means that they will face rivals New Zealand for the second spot in Pool B tomorrow, with the top two teams in each pool going through to the knockout stage.
The pools stage concludes tomorrow, 26 July, with ties being played on the glass court, Court Six and Court Nine at 14:00 and 17:00 (Melbourne, GMT+10).
All the action will be shown live and free on www.worldsquash.tv, alongside Olympic Channel coverage of the glass court ties.
You can view teams, schedules, pools and results on Tournament Software.
Results: WSF Women’s World Junior Team Championship – Pools Stage
Pool A
[1] Egypt 3-0 [7] Canada
Amina Orfi bt Ocean Ma 3-0: 11-3, 11-6, 11-1 (21m)
Zeina Zein bt Maria Min 3-0: 11-3, 11-5, 11-3 (18m)
Nour Megahed bt Iman Shaheen 3-0: 11-7, 11-3, 11-1 (19m)
Pool B
[2] Malaysia 3-0 [8] Australia
Aira Azman bt Madison Lyon 3-0: 11-7, 11-4, 11-4 (19m)
Sehveetrraa Kumar bt Erin Classen 3-0: 11-4, 11-2, 11-6 (21m)
Thanusaa Uthrian bt Hannah Slyth 3-0: 11-3, 11-7, 11-5 (18m)
Pool C
[3] USA 2-1 [5] England
Caroline Fouts lost to Asia Harris 2-3: 11-2, 11-7, 6-11, 6-11, 6-11 (51m)
Madison Ho bt Amelie Haworth 3-0: 12-10, 11-2, 11-4 (27m)
Riya Navani bt Isabel McCullough 3-0: 12-10, 11-3, 11-7 (30m)
[11] South Africa 3-0 [14] Chinese Taipei
Savannah Ingledew bt Yu-Chen Cheng 3-0: 11-2, 11-0, 11-5 (17m)
Dené Van Zyl bt Mei Mei Chan 3-0: 11-8, 11-2, 11-8 (16m)
Elske Garbers bt Yen-Chi Chen 3-0: 11-3, 11-4, 11-7 (15m)
Pool D
[4] Hong Kong, China 2-1 [6] India
Toby Tse lost to Anahat Singh 0-3: 11-13, 8-11, 7-11 (25m)
Sze Wing Wai bt Pooja Arthi Raghu 3-0: 15-13, 11-3, 11-7 (27m)
Ena Kwong bt Tiana Parasrampuria 3-0: 11-5, 11-6, 11-4 (19m)
[12] Singapore 3-0 [13] Ireland
Paige Teresa Hill bt Sarah Sabry 3-0: 11-8, 11-5, 11-8 (23m)
Gracia Chua Rui Én bt Sophie Thomas 3-0: 11-5, 11-2, 11-6 (17m)
Zhe Sim Ong bt Lydia Mcquillan 3-0: 11-5, 11-2, 11-3 (16m)
Schedule: WSF Women’s World Junior Team Championship – Pools Stage, Day Three (26 July)
Pool A
14:00 [7] Canada v [10] Scotland
Pool B
17:00 [8] Australia v [9] New Zealand
Pool C
14:00 [3] USA v [14] Chinese Taipei
17:00 [5] England v [11] South Africa
Pool D
14:00 [6] India v [12] Singapore
17:00 [4] Hong Kong, China v [13] Ireland
