Cairo: Indian men’s junior players caused a huge sensation in the 2025 World Squash Junior Championships, beating higher-seeded and last edition’s runners-up South Korea to reach the semifinals of the team competition at Cairo, Egypt, on Wednesday.
This is the first time in 13 years that the boys have secured a medal in the team competition and have reached this stage of the tournament since 2012.
No.5 seeds India upset No.3 seeds and 2024 finalists Republic of Korea to reach the men’s semifinals of the 2025 World Squash Junior Championships being played at the Black Ball Sporting Club in the Egyptian capital. India defeated South Korea 2-1 in the quarterfinals clash on Wednesday.
India, who reached the quarterfinals with a 2-0 win over Canada, are now guaranteed a bronze medal in the World Championship and will be looking to upgrade it in Thursday’s semifinals when they take on the United States in a last-four stage clash. USA defeated France by the same 2-1 scoreline in the other quarterfinal earlier in the day.
In their quarterfinal match on Wednesday, India started with a win as Yusha Nafees defeated Jeong Uk Ryu of Korea 11-5, 11-5, 11-9 in a boys’ singles match.
The Koreans came back fighting and levelled scores when Sandhesh PR went down to Joo Young Na 4-11, 4-11, 4-11. The Indians sealed victory by winning the third singles match when Arihant K S quelled the challenge of Jong-hyeok Lee in four hard-fought games, winning 11-7, 11-13, 11-8, 11-7 to seal a place in the semifinals.
Later, the Indian girls’ team will take on the home side, Egypt, in a quarterfinal clash. They had reached the last-eight stage with a 3-0 sweep of Brazil in Women’s Group B in the previous round.
(IANS)
