Singh Sole Survivor Against Irresistible Egyptian World Junior Championships Tide

Anahat Singh became the first Indian woman to reach the semi-finals of the World Junior Championships for 15 years while hosts Egypt swept all else before them in an action-packed quarter-finals day at Black Ball Sporting Club in Cairo.

The World Squash Junior Championships bring together the world's best squash talents under the age of 19, with the men's and women's individual championships taking place from July 21-26, followed by the men's and women's team championships from July 27-01 August.

Prior to the clash between 17-year-old No.2 seed Singh and highly-rated 14-year-old 5/8 seed Malika Elkaraksy of Egypt, the last Indian woman to reach the semi-finals of the championships was Indian great Dipika Pallikal, who won a bronze medal in Cologne in 2010.

Singh went into her match with Elkaraksy, whom she beat in the final of the British Junior Open earlier this year, as the favourite, though will have taken nothing for granted after watching men's No.2 seed JooYoung Na crash out 24 hours earlier.

To the delight of the watching India contingent, Singh went about her task with her trademark ice-cold precision, ignoring the packed home crowd to put Elkaraksy to the sword 11-6, 13-11, 11-5.

Afterwards, Singh said: "I'm really, really happy right now! The World Juniors is something really special to me, but I'd lost in the quarters for three years in a row and I'm really glad I was able to reach the semi-finals this time.

"Egyptians are dominating right now, and even though [Elkaraksy] is still really young, she's such a good player."

If anything, Singh's description of Egyptian dominance represented an understatement. 'The Pharaohs' are the undisputed heavyweights of the modern era, with Singh's win the only thing stopping the hosts from recording the first ever complete shut out of all eight semi-final spots in World Squash history.

Leading the charge for Egypt are tournament top seeds Amina Orfi of Cairo and Mohamad Zakaria of Alexandria.

Orfi, already up to world No.5 on the PSA Squash Tour, is hoping to become the first player in competition history to win the event four times, with the 17-year-old currently level with national icon Nour El Sherbini with three titles.

Orfi took another step towards that record in her home city, dishing out an 11-2, 11-5, 11-6 win over Cairo-based Frenchwoman Lauren Baltayan.

Zakaria, meanwhile, made history last year in Houston by becoming the youngest ever male winner, and the 17-year-old stepped up his title defence tonight with an 11-5, 11-5, 11-3 win against USA's Christian Capella.

Joining Orfi and Singh in the women's semi-finals are 3/4 seed Nadien Elhammamy and 5/8 seed Sohayla Hazem, with Elhammamy set to play Singh after defeating Hong Kong's Ena Kwong 3/0 and Hazem facing Orfi after beating Kwong's compatriot Tsz Ching Cheung in five games.

In the all-Egyptian men's semi-final line-up, Zakaria will face British Junior Open champion and 3/4 seed Eiad Daoud after the left-hander came back from a game down to defeat compatriot Adam Hawal.

The other semi-final will pit 3/4 seed Marwan Asal - younger brother of reigning PSA World Champion and current world No.1 Mostafa Asal - against tournament surprise package Adham Roshdy.

Asal, who exited in the last 16 last year, overcame Colombian 5/8 seed Juan Irisarri 3/0, while 9/16 seed Roshdy - who defeated last year's finalist Na earlier - was leading 2/0 in a cagey match against compatriot Seifeldin Refaay when his opponent retired hurt.