Whenever you reflect on 2022 for UK squash, you can say you remember it with fond memories; notably with Gina Kennedy’s success at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham – but the one that is going to be remembered more is the Team England junior men’s squad winning the World Squash Junior Championships in Nancy, France.
Credit: World Squash Federation
Ironically, the success ended England’s title drought in the men’s category of the World Junior Squash championship since 2000, held in Milan, Italy – back then England took Egypt, however, this year history repeated itself again with the Squash superpowers meeting again in the final.
To say the final was nail-biting would be an understatement, but needless to say, it was a match for the ages with some interesting rallies, which highlight the potential of these young stars.
Withington fights back to win from two games down
England’s situation looked bleak when their No.1 Finnlay Withington fell 2-0 and match ball down to Karim El Torkey in the first match.
With his mind in attack mode, the 18-year-old was able to respond brilliantly by saving a match ball at 10-9 and another at 12-11, Withington brought his brilliant creative talents to the fore and silenced the Egyptian support with a 14-12 win.
The Englishman carried this momentum forward through to the fourth game, which he took 11-3, before giving England a crucial one-match advantage with an 11-6 win in the fifth game.
Osborne-Wylde brings it home in final game
With the tie at 1-1, the weight of expectations fell on the shoulders of England’s Sam Osborne-Wylde and Egypt’s Mohamed Zakaria, who at just 14 years of age made history as the youngest player on record to appear in the Men’s Team Championship final.
Osborne-Wylde made the perfect start to the decisive match, dominating the opening game against the error-prone Zakaria in an 11-3 win.
When the Englishman took the second game 11-6, England fans could be forgiven for daring to dream that 22 years of hurt, which included a defeat to Egypt in the 2018 final, were coming to an end.
Despite this Zakaria, was on a mission to spoil the party when he managed to pull one game back with an 11-4 win in the third game, with his attacking instincts being rewarded as young Osborne-Wylde needed to find his line and length to do something spectacular in the final game.
The stage was set, Egypt was looking to do it again……but in a frenetic game, both Zakaria and Osbourne-Wylde traded the lead.
Some may say, this was going to be epic matches with future elite squash champions.
At first, Zakaria edged into a 7-5 lead, only for a brilliant shot winner from Osborne-Wylde to check his momentum.
Observers said this proved to be the decisive moment of the match and tie, but a re-energised Osborne-Wylde managed to put together a run of four more points to have three championship balls at 10-7.
It then came down to a final game, while Zakaria was able to save the first, he could do nothing about a perfect backhand into the nick from Osborne-Wylde, who took the match 11-8.
The 22 years of hurt for England’s men juniors had finally ended with a memorable final – Osborne-Wylde had done it and ran around the court, with his teammates and coaches jumping for joy.
Final Scores: [1] Egypt 1-2 [2] England
Kareem El Torkey lost to Finnlay Withington 2-3: 11-8, 11-5, 12-14, 3-11, 6-11 (54 min)
Salman Khalil bt Jonah Bryant 3-1: 11-3, 5-11, 14-12, 11-6 (60 min)
Mohamed Zakaria lost to Sam Osborne-Wylde 1-3: 3-11, 6-11, 11-4, 8-11 (60m)
This result helped England avenge their defeat to Egypt in the 2018 final in Chennai, India.
Meanwhile, the final places were completed with Pakistan and Malaysia finishing 3rd and 4th respectively.
Moderate success in men’s junior singles
Despite not winning gold in the singles category, Withington still came away as the winner as his silver medal was the motivation he needed to do well in the team events of the tournament.
History was made by Rowan Damming of the Netherlands becoming the first Dutchman to win the individual title of the tournament.
As for Team Netherlands, they finished 6th overall, behind India.
Final Thoughts
The success of the England juniors at the 2022 World Junior Squash champions is going to help revitalise grassroots programmes in the United Kingdom, especially now that England Squash has the considerable financial backing to develop more programmes to increase participation in the sport.
Following the success of the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, from which the senior team took 2 gold medals and finished second to a resurgent New Zealand show UK squash is ripe for growth with success at a major global event.
If you are a Squash fan, you could draw parallels between England’s men’s success at world juniors with Guyana’s success at the 2022 CASA junior tournament (Guyana finished 21st in the world juniors) – from which both teams avenged their title loss to win again and highlight how great squash is for young people to participate in.
To sum up, Squash is back with one of its great superpowers winning gold again just a few weeks after the Commonwealth Games.
Let’s hope England’s Squash success and momentum continue on with more programmes at a grassroots level and hopefully Olympic inclusion.
