Squash’s next generation just wrote itself into the record books. The 2026 World Junior Squash Championships wrapped up its individual event in Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario, marking the tournament’s first return to Canada since 1984 — and delivering two milestones that will be talked about for years.
The Setting
From July 20–25, White Oaks Resort & Spa and Ridley College hosted 185 of the world’s best under-19 players from 24 nations, all chasing individual world titles. Day one alone saw 134 matches contested across the two venues — a sign of just how deep and competitive the draws were before a single seed had been tested.
A First for Nigeria
Amid all the seeded teams jostling for medals, one of the tournament’s quieter but more meaningful milestones belonged to a nation with no medal aspirations at all: Nigeria, competing in the women’s team event for the very first time, becoming the newest of the 16 federations in that draw.
The debut started roughly, with the Nigerians falling 3-0 to hosts Canada on opening day. But 24 hours later they made history of their own, coming from behind to beat No. 9 seeds Brazil 2-1 for the country’s first-ever match win at a World Junior Team Championships. Both deciding rubbers went the distance: Awawu Balogun recovered from a 2-2 deadlock to close out her match 11-3, and Delight Allison saved the tie from 2-1 down, forcing a fifth game and then running away with it 11-2. Brazil’s Laura Silva won the dead final rubber, but by then the result — and the history — was already sealed. Head coach Jonah Ibrahim Attah called it a huge confidence boost for a program building itself from the ground up, and for a squad playing its first-ever World Juniors, a statement win over a seeded opponent is about as good a start as it gets.
Men’s Singles: Zakaria Makes History
Egypt’s Mohamad Zakaria entered the tournament as the clear favourite, and he didn’t disappoint. Already a two-time defending champion and the youngest-ever men’s World Junior champion (a title he claimed at just 16 back in 2024), Zakaria beat compatriot Adam Hawal in straight games in the final to become the first men’s player ever to win three World Junior titles.
It wasn’t a hollow final, either. Hawal arrived in Canada off the back of one of the biggest upsets in squash history — earlier this year at the CIB Egyptian Open, he beat then-world No. 3 Paul Coll despite a staggering 249-place gap between them in the rankings. That pedigree showed: long, intense rallies defined the opening game of the final before Zakaria’s experience took over.
The men’s draw was, in fact, a near-total Egyptian affair. All four semifinalists — Zakaria, Hawal, Seif Refaay, and Marwan Assal — hailed from Egypt, guaranteeing the trophy would stay in Cairo’s orbit regardless of the outcome.
Women’s Singles: Singh Makes History
If Zakaria’s win was about continuing a dynasty, Anahat Singh’s was about breaking one. The Indian teenager and world No. 20 on the senior PSA Tour beat Egypt’s Ruqayya Salem 3-0 (11-3, 11-7, 11-9) to become the first Indian player ever crowned a World Junior squash champion — and in doing so, ended an Egyptian stranglehold on the women’s title that had lasted since 2011.
Singh’s road to the final ran directly through Egypt three times over: she beat Habiba Rizk in the quarterfinals, Barb Sameh in the semifinals, and Salem in the final. By her own account, this event had haunted her — she’d lost in the semis or quarters four years running and had come to think of it as “a curse.” Last year in Cairo she’d taken bronze, ending a 15-year individual medal drought for India at the event. This year, with four-time champion Amina Orfi no longer age-eligible, the draw opened up — and Singh made the most of it, calling the win a moment she “still feels like [she’s] dreaming” about.
She wasn’t the only Indian junior making noise. On day one, India’s Saanvi Kalanki fought back from a mid-match slip to survive a five-game battle against the Netherlands’ Elcke Mols, part of a strong overall showing from the Indian squad this year.
The Team Event: Egypt’s Long Reach
The individual event was only act one. The World Junior Team Championships followed at the same venue from July 26–31, with 40 squads — 24 men’s teams and 16 women’s teams — from 24 nations chasing the sport’s other major junior prize. And by finals day, the story had become a familiar one: Egypt, again, standing between everyone else and the trophy.
The men’s draw delivered one of the tournament’s best upsets along the way. India, seeded fifth, knocked out No. 3 seeds England 2-1 to reach the semifinals for a second straight year — a genuine surprise given England’s status as five-time team champions. But India’s run ended there, falling 0-2 to the United States, with Gurveer Singh edged in a tight opener by Brendan Tagliarini before Aryaveer Dewan lost to Yaseen Shalaby. It was still a landmark for the program: back-to-back bronze medals at the World Junior Team Championships for the first time in Indian squash history.
On the other side of the men’s draw, France wrote a chapter of their own, reaching the semifinals for the first time in 26 years behind a gutsy run from Amir Khaled-Jousselin, who pushed Zakaria to a five-game battle before Egypt’s top seeds prevailed. That set up a final against the USA, a rematch of the 2025 Cairo final — the first time the USA reached a final in program history last year.
The women’s draw produced its own headline upset. Malaysia, seeded sixth, stunned No. 2 seeds Hong Kong, China 2-0 to reach the final for the first time since 2023 — Doyce Lee grinding out a five-game win over Armona Cheung before Whitney Wilson sealed it in four against Helen Tang.
It’s redemption of a kind for a Malaysian program that has finished runner-up five times but never won the team title. Standing in their way: defending champions Egypt, who saw off the USA in the other semifinal and were chasing an 11th consecutive women’s team title.
So the finals set up like this: Egypt vs. USA for the men’s title, and Egypt vs. Malaysia for the women’s — with Egypt chasing a men’s-and-women’s sweep that would extend a dynasty already spanning two decades. And that’s exactly what happened.
In the opening tie of finals day at White Oaks Resort & Spa, Egypt’s women made a tactical switch, promoting Malika Elkaraksy to first string in place of Ruqayya Salem — and it paid off immediately. Elkaraksy raced to a 2-0 lead over Malaysia’s Whitney Wilson, then held her nerve to close out a tight third game 12-10 after Wilson had threatened to force a fourth. Sixteen-year-old Habiba Rizk then sealed the tie with a dominant 11-2, 11-3, 11-3 win over Doyce Lee, handing Egypt a 2-0 victory and a 13th women’s team title — their 11th in a row.
The men’s final followed the same script. Mohamad Zakaria, fresh off a five-game scare against France in the semis, made sure there’d be no repeat, dispatching USA’s Yaseen Shalaby in straight games. The win extended a remarkable streak: Zakaria closed out the last 33 matches of his World Junior career without dropping a single game, a run stretching back to a defeat to Pakistan’s Hamza Khan in 2023. Seifeldin Refaay then finished the job with a straight-games win over Brendan Tagliarini, sealing a 2-0 victory and Egypt’s ninth men’s team title — their third consecutive. Between the two finals, India’s breakthrough bronze, France’s 26-year wait finally broken, and Malaysia’s sixth runner-up finish, the team event proved just as rich with storylines as the individual draws that preceded it.
Closing Thought
Between Zakaria’s third crown, Singh’s curse-breaking run, and a team competition stacked with underdog runs and Egyptian dynasty-building, the 2026 World Junior Squash Championships offered a bit of everything: history for the established powers, breakthroughs for the challengers, and a reminder of just how deep the sport’s next generation already runs.
With squash set to debut at the LA28 Olympics, plenty of these names are ones to remember.