Jooyoung Creates Korea World History In Houston

Jooyoung Na has made history for the Republic of Korea after brilliantly battling back to defeat Malaysia's Harith Danial to become the nation's first ever player to reach the final of a World squash championship.

The 17-year-old 9/16 seed, who captured headlines 24 hours earlier with a shock win over reigning champion Hamza Khan in the WSF World Junior Championships in Houston, looked in trouble when he went 0/2 down to the dominant Danial.

The Korean, however, channelled all his mental and physical fortitude after game two, taking full advantage of the ball softening up to begin to hurt the Malaysian.

Danial's conservative and watchful strategy, which had served so well in the opening games, began to unravel as Na built momentum, with the Korean retrieving nearly every ball and looking increasingly confident on the attack as he wiped out Danial's lead with 11-7 and 11-4 wins before etching his name into the record books with an 11-2 victory in the fifth game.

Na is the lowest seeded player to qualify for the men's final since Egypt's Omar Elatmas, who reached the final of the 2014 edition in Namibia as a 9/16 seed.

"Thank you all so much for always cheering, supporting, and taking interest," Na said afterwards. "I will fight for it tomorrow, too. We will do our best to shine for Korea,"

Na will take on Egypt's Mohamad Zakaria in the final, with the top seed playing a measured game as he beat India's Shaurya Bawa in straight games to reach the final for a second year in a row.

"This year, I was extremely focused because I messed up last year [Zakaria was defeated in last year's final by Hamza Khan]. I know all my mistakes now and have made significant improvements, but the job is so far from done," Zakaria said.

Zakaria - who has yet to drop a game in Houston - isn't the only returning finalist, with Amina Orfi's mission to become the first ever player to win three consecutive titles still alive after a typically efficient win today against compatriot Nadien Elhammamy in the women's semi-finals.

Orfi, crowned champion in France in 2022 and Australia in 2023, was in control throughout against the 3/4 seed, wrapping up the match with an 11-7, 11-1, 11-6 victory - her fifth successive straight games win.

Afterwards, Orfi said: "I don't think [playing an Egypt teammate] really affects my play because everyone is different; not all Egyptians play the same and there's no one characteristic. Sometimes it's good to have your Egyptian coaches cheering for you, but I don't think it makes that much of a difference and I'm just looking forward to tomorrow."

Facing Orfi tomorrow is another teammate, No.2 seed Fayrouz Aboelkheir, who ensured there would be an all-Egyptian final as she ended home hopes with an 11-5, 11-3, 11-4 win over American 3/4 seed Caroline Fouts.

After her match, Aboelkheir explained that she felt relieved to have delivered an all-Egyptian final after her loss in the semi-finals last year to Malaysia's Aira Azman ended an incredible 10-year run of all-Egyptian finals.

"I'm really happy this year [that it will be an all-Egyptian final] because last year I broke that 10-year record. I'm glad that I'm starting it again! I'm just trying to start a new record for Egypt," Aboelkheir said.