20-Dec-2010,
Preview:
Egypt dominates 2011 seedings
Paul Houghton reports
The Tecnifibre British Junior Open
returns to Sheffield in the New Year with
the best young players from around the world
competing for the prestigious British
titles. England Squash & Racketball’s
Official Performance Partner – Tecnifibre
– are once again title sponsors for the
event which is now in its seventeenth year
in the city.
Hallamshire Tennis & Squash Club and
Abbeydale Park Rackets & Fitness Club
remain the ‘home’ of the event and are
joined this year by Concord Sports Centre
as the third venue helping to cater for the
408 players from the 40 nations in
attendance.
 Following
on from their clean sweep in 2010 Egypt
return with another strong contingence, led
by the current World Junior Champion Amr
Khaled Khalifi who is top seed in the
Boys Under 19 category. He will face tough
opposition from his compatriots with Ali
Farag seeded number two and Marwan El
Shorbagy, last year’s BU17 winner a 3/4
seed. English interest lies with Charles
Sharpes who occupies the other 3/4
seeded position and hopes are high that he
will be able to break the Egyptian deadlock.
 The
girls World Junior Champion, American
Amanda Sobhy is the top seed in the
Girls Under 19 event. She is contesting the
under 19 event for the first time and is
seeded to meet the Egyptian Nour El Tayeb
in the final. If this goes to seed it
will be a repeat of last season’s Under 17
final which was won by the Egyptian.
Missing due to a knee injury is reigning
champion Nour El Sherbini.
England have high hopes in the U17
categories with British Junior Champions
Oliver Holland (Nottingham) and Emily
Whitlock (Cheshire) both seeded number
two behind Mahesh Mangoankar (India)
and Kanzy El Dafrawy (Egypt)
respectively.
The U15 categories are dominated by
Egyptians this year as they occupy the top
four spots in both the boys and girls
categories. Mohamed El Gawarhy and
Mariam Ibrahim Metwaly are the top seeds
looking to take a title home. The Boys Under
13 event is also seeded in the Egyptians
favour with Saad El Din Ihab and
Youssef Ibrahim taking the top two
positions with Mohammed Alsarraj
(Jordan) and Eain Yow Ng (Malaysia)
occupying the 3/4 slots.
Wales look to do well in the Girls Under 13
with Elin Harlow who is seeded number
two, Egypt's Mena Hamed is the top
seed while the two Malaysians Sivasangari
Subramaniam and Zoe Foo Yuk Han
take the 3/4 positions.
Play starts everyday at 9am with the finals
scheduled for Thursday 6th. All spectators
are welcome free of charge.
|
Draws and predicted
quarter-finals
Draws and
predicted
quarter-finals
 |
