Islamabad (Sports Desk): The player list, seedings and draws have been announced ahead of this month's World Squash Junior Championships as 234 of the world's best squash talents aged under 19 prepare to head to Egypt for a chance to earn the title of World Champion. The individual championships are taking place from August 21-26 at Cairo's Black Ball Sporting Club, with the team event following at the same venue from August 27-01 September.
Cairo-born Orfi, aged 18 and already women's World No.5, is aiming to make history by becoming the first player to win the competition four times after lifting the title in 2022, 2023 and 2024. 17-year-old men's World No.14 Zakaria of Alexandria, meanwhile, will be aiming to defend the title he won last year in Houston, when he became the youngest ever male World Squash Junior Champion with victory over Republic of Korea's Jooyoung Na.
In the men's event, Marwan Asal - younger brother of current World No.1 and reigning World Champion Mostafa - and Eiad Daoud have been made 3/4 seeds, while in the women's event Nadien Elhammamy and Janna Galal are 3/4 seeds and Malika Elkaraksy and Sohayla Hazem are 5/8 seeds.
Completing the seedings in the men's event are last year's finalist Na, who has been made No.2 seed, while the 5/8 seeds are US duo Christian Capella and Alexander Dartnell, Pakistan's Abdullah Nawaz and Malaysia's Low Wa-Sern.
In the women's event, India's Anahat Singh is at No.2 seed, while France's Lauren Baltayan and Hong Kong, China's Ena Kwong are the 5/8 seeds.
Top Eight Seeds (Women's Event):
1 - Amina Orfi (EGY)
2 - Anahat Singh (IND)
3/4 - Nadien Elhammamy (EGY)
3/4 - Janna Galal (EGY)
5/8 - Lauren Baltayan (FRA)
5/8 - Malika Elkaraksy (EGY)
5/8 - Sohayla Hazem (EGY)
5/8 Ena Kwong (HKG)
Top Eight Seeds (Men's Event):
1 - Mohamad Zakaria (EGY)
2 - Jooyoung Na (KOR)
3/4 - Marwan Asal (EGY)
3/4 - Eiad Daoud (EGY)
5/8 - Christian Capella (USA)
5/8 - Alexander Dartnell (USA)
5/8 - Abdullah Nawaz (PAK)
5/8 - Low Wa-Sern (MAS).
