Ramy Ashour Is Youngest Men's World Squash Champion

Ramy Ashour, the 16-year-old Egyptian who stunned the squash world at the weekend in Pakistan when he won the Men's World Junior Championship, is the youngest winner of the title in the biennial event's 24-year history.

The news was revealed by Prince Sports, whose racquets Ashour has been using for more than three years.

Seeded only to reach the quarter-finals at the new Mushaf Squash Complex in Islamabad, Ashour made his breakthrough when he beat Pakistani Farhan Mehboob, the Asian Junior Champion, to reach the semi-finals - then ousted another local player, giant-killer Amir Atlas Khan, to make the final.

Ignoring support for local hero Yasir Butt from a packed crowd which included the Pakistan Prime Minister Choudhary Shujaat Hussain, Ashour swept to a 9-5 10-8 9-3 victory to achieve his historic victory in 46 minutes.

"This is my finest hour," a beaming Ashour told journalists after receiving his trophy from Pakistan squash legend Jahangir Khan, the record ten-times British Open champion who is now the President of the World Squash Federation (WSF).

"I set myself a goal of becoming the world junior champion when I took up squash, and I am happy that I have been able to achieve that today," said the youngster from Cairo who has endured two major knee operations in his short career.

Andy Bunting, the Prince International Player Promotions Manager, added: "Ramy has been a loyal Prince player for some time and we are delighted that this remarkable 16-year-old has won this title - with the unique prospect of retaining it in two years in New Zealand.

"Ramy is player of enormous quality and I am sure he has a very bright future ahead of him."

Ramy Ashour achieved his world title success with the Prince MORE Game racquet, the racquet choice of world No1 Peter Nicol.