New Zealand Team Named for 2024 WSF World Junior Squash Championships

A 14 strong New Zealand team has been named for the 2024 WSF World Junior Squash Championships to be held in Texas in July.

The team is made up of seven junior males and seven junior women, with New Zealand Junior Open winners Ollie Dunbar and Ella Lash headlining the squad.

“It’s really special to make the team,” said Dunbar.

“World Junior is always a great competition and this year is going to be great because we’re competing individually as well as in a teams event so it’s going to be awesome to play four our country.

“The exposure to players from all around the world is so good at a world event. I learnt a lot from watching everyone’s game styles last year and I’m looking forward to this year.”

The Junior World will run July 10-23 in Houston. This year’s championships comprise an individual as well as a team competition, and will feature concurrent men’s and women’s team events for the first time in event history.

"We're really pleased with this team," said Squash New Zealand Performance Operations Co-Ordinator Catherine Logan-McLeod.

"There's a great mix of some of our more experienced young athletes as well as some exciting new talent, and we're looking forward to great competition."

"The Juniors Worlds are a key part of our development programme," added Squash New Zealand National Performance Coach Jonathan Kemp.

"It's a really high class competition and it'll be great for our athletes to test themselves against the best young squash players in the world."

At last year’s championships, which took place in Melbourne, Australia, Egypt’s Amina Orfi won her second individual title and led Egypt to victory in the team event, while Hamza Khan ended Pakistan’s 37-year wait for a title in the men’s individual event.

The full New Zealand team is as follows:

Boys

1.       Ollie Dunbar

2.       Freddie Jameson

3.       Charlie Prince 

4.       Chris Hebberd

5.       Flynn Venmore

6.       Liam Linton

Girls

1.       Ella Lash 

2.       Anabel Romero Gemmell

3.       Maiden-Lee Coe

4.       Ella Hill

5.       Emma Merson

6.       Moriya Karati