After a 2-0 win against No.2 seeds Malaysia at Melbourne Sports Centers, Egypt have won their tenth WSF Women’s World Junior Team Championship title and their eighth in succession.
Malaysia came into today’s tie with revenge on their minds, having lost to Egypt in the final of the last two editions of the tournament, with their first-string Aira Azman also losing to Egyptian first-string Amina Orfi in the final of the individual championship earlier this week.
The No.2 seeds’ chances were boosted by news ahead of the tie that Egypt was without two players due to illness, meaning the defending champions were represented by their No.1 Amina Orfi, No.3 Zeina Zein, and No.5 Nadien El Hammamy.
Zein, up first due to the 2-1-3 string order today, picked up the gauntlet almost flawlessly from the original second string Fayrouz Aboelkheir as she put in a brilliant performance to settle any Egyptian nerves.
After taking a 2-0 lead against Sehveetrraa Kumar, the Egyptian was pegged back in game three 11-2.
However, the 18-year-old soon found the perfect response, delivering a stunning 11-0 win in game four to give her side the lead.
In the second match, Orfi was at her clinical best, keeping Azman at arm’s length.
The 16-year-old kept calm and took advantage of Azman’s errors in the first two games to take a 2-0 lead before putting the Malaysian to the sword with an 11-2 win in game three.
Afterward, Egypt’s coach, former World No.4 Omneya Abdel Kawy, said: “To be honest, I was nervous because we had some issues before the tie. The whole team could have been 100 percent better. With Nour [Megahed] having a fever yesterday, we had to remove her, and Fayrouz wasn’t well today. So we had to make a technical and safety decision.
“Amina wasn’t too well, either, she was stiff, and we were so worried that she couldn’t play her best.
“Thank goodness Zeina played well. She played fantastic squash, and she took the pressure away.
“Amina had to push and kept going. She’s so strong [mentally]. I can’t say anything else! She kept pushing herself day in and day out and wanted to play every match even when her back was so stiff, and that gave me the confidence that even if she couldn’t play her best, she would do her best and win it!
“It’s so special [to win a tenth title]. We aim to keep winning titles through every generation and keep the factory going!”
World Squash Federation President Zena Wooldridge and Squash Australia CEO Rob Donaghue congratulated the athletes at the trophy presentation. They thanked everyone who had made this year’s WSF World Junior Squash Championships possible.
