Junior World Squash Championships underway in Chennai

Junior World Squash Championships underway in ChennaiChennai, July 31 : The 16th World Junior Men Squash Championship and 13th World Junior Women Squash Championship with participants from over 28 countries is being played at Chennai.

Over 100 girls and 60 boys from USA, Canada, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Singapore, Kuwait, Egypt and all European countries have assembled to clinch the world championship titles.

Major (Retd) S. Maniam, Director of Coaching; Asian Squash Federation (ASF) said that India''s top seed Dipika Pallikal stands a good chance of winning the tournament.

“I think she (Dipika Pallikal) stands a very bright chance. I have had look at most of the senior players in this tournament and I think she stands a good chance,” said Major
(Retd) S. Maniam.

Meanwhile, top seed and defending champion Mohammed El Shorbagy of Egypt said that he is confident that he would win the championship, as he is familiar with Indian courts.

“I came to India twice. It''s like I know the place and I know the court because I played here before, which may be an advantage for me,” said Shorbagy.

However, some participants said that playing in Indian conditions and playing against so many international players would be quite challenging.

“It''s a lot more hard to play against other people from the whole world because within Europe we know each other very well, so, we know kind of how we each other play. But, it''s much more hard to play here,” said Manna Frederiksen from Denmark.(ANI)