That Egypt is quite synonymous with squash is a no-brainer. And the World junior squash championships here, as expected, it has turned out to be an exhibition of supremacy of the North African country.
The boys’ semifinals on Sunday of the Worlds at the Express Avenue Mall will be an all-Egyptian affair. In the girls’ category, Lucy Termel of England broke into the semifinal party.
If one has to pick a contest for its intensity, it has to be the one between Jana Shiha and the lower seeded Farida Mohamed, both from Egypt in the girls’ quarterfinals on Saturday. It was Shiha who emerged triumphant 7-11, 11-6, 11-5, 7-11, 15-13 in 51 minutes.
Shiha is a copy-book player with an array of shots while Farida is more of a player who relies on grit and fighting spirit.
The manner in which Shiha blew away Farida in the third game, it appeared that the 16-year-old would pocket the fourth and the match in a jiffy. But Farida fought back taking the match to the decider.
Unleashing winners and drop-shots from all corners, Shiha ran up a handy 9-5 lead and had three match points at 10-7, only to see Farida make a comeback. Shiha, however, finished the contest on her fifth match point while saving one on the way.
Egypt’s Mostafa Asal, seeded two, proved why he is rated as one of the best in the business, when he defeated Leonel Cardenas of Mexico 12-10, 11-7, 11-9.
Whenever he was trailing — be it 8-10 in the first game or 7-9 in the third — he raised his game with some unbelievable retrievals and deception. No wonder, the 17-year-old is spoken about in glowing terms by the squash fraternity.
Semifinal line-up: Boys: Marwan Tarek vs Omar El Torkey, Mostafa Asal vs Mostafa El Sorty; Girls: Rowan Reda Araby vs Jana Shiha, Lucy Termel vs Hania El Hammamy.
The results (Quarterfinals): Boys: 1-Marwan Tarek (Egy) bt 5-8 Mostafa Montaser (Egy) 11-8, 11-1, 11-5; 3-4 Omar El Turkey (Egy) bt 5-8 Nicholas Wall (Eng) 11-6, 11-3, 11-7; 3-4-Mostafa El Sorty (Egy) bt 5-8-Darren Rahul Pragasam (MAS) 4-11, 13-11, 6-11, 12-10, 11-6; 2-Mostafa Asal (Egy) bt 5-8 Leonel Cardenas (Mex) 12-10, 11-7, 11-9.
Girls: 1-Rowan Reda Araby (Egy) bt 5-8 Hana Moataz (Egy) 12-10, 11-6, 11-3; 5-8 Jana Shiha (Egy) bt 13-16-Farida Mohamed (Egy) 7-11, 11-6, 11-5, 7-11, 15-13; 3-4-Lucy Termel (Eng) bt Sneha Sivakumar (Sgp) 11-5, 11-8, 11-8; 2-Hania El Hammamy (Egy) bt 5-8 Marina Stefanoni (USA) 11-2, 11-4, 11-7.