Ashour On Verge Of Historic World Title Win

Egypt's Ramy Ashour is seeded to become the first man in history to win the Men's World Junior Championship title twice according to the draw for the 2006 Prince-sponsored event in Palmerston North, New Zealand, which is announced today by the World Squash Federation (WSF).

The 2006 individual championship, which has attracted 126 players from 19 countries, takes place from 16-22 July, and is followed by the World Junior Team Championship from 23-28 July.

Ashour shocked the squash world two years ago when - aged 16, and seeded only to reach the last eight - he romped through the event in Islamabad, Pakistan, to become the fourth Egyptian to win the crown since the inaugural event in 1980.

The 18-year-old from Cairo, who has now burst into the top 20 PSA world rankings, is expected to face No2 seed Aamir Atlas Khan in the final in a repeat of his 2004 semi-final against the unseeded Pakistani.

Ashour leads a group of four Egyptians who are seeded to reach the last eight - including third seed Omar Mosaad, a double British Junior U17 Open champion from Cairo; and 5/8 seeds Mohd Ali Anwar Reda (the reigning British U17 Open champion) and Tarek Momen, a former British U13 and U15 Open champion.

Germany's European Junior champion Simon Rosner is the fourth seed, while local interest will be led by Evan Williams, a 16-year-old from Wellington who is a 9/16 seed.

Complete 1st round draw:
[1] Ramy Ashour (EGY) bye
Vikram Malhotra (IND) v Ahmed Hassan (ZIM)
[17/32] Rory Byrne (IRL) v Joel Boman (AUS)
Edward Dromgool (NZL) v Petteri Siren (FIN)
[9/16] Keith Pritchard (CAN) v Christopher Callis (USA)
Craig Farrell (NZL) v Brad Kemp (AUS)
[17/32] Choong Kam Hing (MAS) v Manek Mathur (IND)
Chris Tasker-Grindley (ENG) v James Skifffington (NZL)
[5/8] Farhan Mehboob (PAK) v Karri Salonen (FIN)
David Canner (USA) v Tatsuya Shinkubo (JPN)
[17/32] Ammar Al-Tamimi (KUW) v Reiko Peter (SUI)
Norman Junge (GER) v Richard Dodd (RSA)
[9/16] Evan Williams (NZL) v Elvinn Keo (MAS)
Matthew Nation (NZL) v Karim Dabaah (ENG)
[17/32] Harinder Pal Sandhu (IND) v Fung Ji Yang (HKG)
Zac Alexander (AUS) v Colin West (CAN)
[4] Simon Rosner (GER) v Frank Hartkoren (NED)
Christopher Lloyd (NZL) v Christopher Plimpton (USA)
[17/32] Andrew McDougall (CAN) v Benjamin Fischer (SUI)
Parth Sharma (IND) v Nathan Kam (AUS)
[9/16] Bilal Zaman (PAK) v Alex Ingham (ENG)
Richard Colburn (RSA) v Cameron Jamieson (NZL)
[17/32] Nathan Stevenson (AUS) v Bumpei Kawano (JPN)
Josh Larkin (AUS) v Jordan Wagstaff (NZL)
[5/8] Tarek Momen (EGY) v Shamlan Mohammed (KUW)
Alexander Jury (AUS) v Lance Beddoes (NZL)
[17/32] Pyry Poikolainen (FIN) v Tim Cowell (AUS)
Ainsley Gannaway (ZIM) v Byron Peehi-Floyd (NZL)
[9/16] Sandeep Jangra (IND) v Alan Tsang (HKG)
Bastiaan Meulenbelt (NED) v Cameron Morris (AUS)
[17/32] Tom Pashley (ENG) v Alex Grayson (NZL)
Randy Lim (MAS) v Todd Ruth (USA)
Josh Thom (NZL) v Hisham Saleh (KUW)
[17/32] Parthiban Ayappan (IND) v Rudi Willemse (RSA)
Omar Tarek Mahm Aly (EGY) v Reed Endresen (USA)
[9/16] Nicolas Mueller (SUI) v Chris O'Kane (IRL)
Mikael Siren (FIN) v Aaron Cusick (AUS)
[17/32] Sander Kock (NED) v Conor Matson (NZL)
Luke Gordon (NZL) v Florian Silbernagl (GER)
[5/8] Yasir Butt (PAK) v Mark Froot (USA)
James Meyer (NZL) v Rex Hedrick (AUS)
[17/32] James Snell (ENG) v Wian Louwrens (RSA)
Leo Au (HKG) v Matiu Tekani-McQueen (NZL)
[9/16] Mohd Asyraf Azan (MAS) v Luke Sims (AUS)
Naresh Kumar (IND) v Bryce Redman (NZL)
[17/32] David Letourneau (CAN) v Curtis Harrison (NZL)
Zardeen Wazir (ZIM) v Aaron Fyfe (AUS)
[3] Omar Mosaad (EGY) v Shinnosuke Tsukue (JPN)
Ivan Yuen (MAS) v Charles Veerkamp (NED)
[17/32] Trevor McGuinness (USA) v Aatos Mannroos (FIN)
Omar Al Jamaan (KUW) v Ramit Tandon (IND)
[9/16] Joe Lee (ENG) v Peter Taylor (AUS)
Yuuta Fukui (JPN) v Jason Cole Niven (RSA)
[17/32] Dave Glass (CAN) v Wesley Cusick (AUS)
Conor O'Hare (IRL) v Lui Syder (NZL)
[5/8] Mohd Ali Anwar Reda (EGY) v Livio Catenazzi (SUI)
Keegan Burkhart (NZL) v Deepesh Patel (ZIM)
[17/32] Tom Hoevenaars (NED) v Carsten Schoor (GER)
Mohamed El Shorbagy (EGY) v Simon O'Shaughnessy (NZL)
[9/16] Max Lee (HKG) v Ravi Dixit (IND)
Adrian Waller (ENG) v Matthew Durda (AUS)
[17/32] Matt Reece (AUS) v Mithran Selvaratnam (MAS)
Todd Harrity (USA) v Naishadh Lalwani (IND)
[2] Aamir Atlas Khan (PAK) bye

Official website: www.2006worldjuniors.co.nz/