While Egyptian Marwan El Shorbagy retains his men’s No. 1 ranking, England’s Emily Whitlock makes her debut at the top of the women’s list in the new January WSF World Junior Circuit Rankings published by the World Squash Federation.
El Shorbagy, aged 18 and from Alexandria, is the reigning world junior champion after winning the WSF Men’s World Junior Individual Championship crown in Belgium in July—since when he has made rapid progress in the PSA world rankings.
Title success in the Indian Junior Open in September helped India’s 17-year-old Mahesh Mangaonkar move up to second place, pushing Egypt’s Mohamed Abouelghar, runner-up to El Shorbagy in Belgium, down to No. 3.
Dutchman Tom de Mulder bursts into the rankings for the first time at No. 4 after a runner-up finish in October’s Nordic Junior Open in Sweden.
After winning the Canadian Junior Open, then finishing in third place later last month in the US Junior Open, Mexican Mario Yanez also makes his first appearance in the list at No. 5.
Emily Whitlock, the 17-year-old British national junior champion, is rewarded for her focus and success on the world junior circuit by taking over the top spot— succeeding Egypt’s world junior champion, Nour El Tayeb.
Whitlock, who became the European Junior champion for the first time last April, added the Belgian Junior Open title to her trophy collection in November.
And India’s Anaka Alankamony also moved up in the list to take over second place. The 17-year-old from Chennai followed her unexpected success in last year’s Asian Junior Championships by winning the Indian Junior Open in her home city in September.
American Maria Elena Ubina, 16-year-old winner of the U.S. Junior Open, leaps up to fifth place, below Egyptians Nour El Tayeb and Nour El Sherbini, at 3 and 4, respectively
The WSF World Junior Circuit Rankings—which are based on the under-19 age grouping and were launched last October—will be issued quarterly, based on results achieved in national junior opens, regional championships and WSF World Junior Individual Championships. In the coming months, as players compete in more events (there are 16 already on the circuit in the first half of the year), players will have more results with which to find a level.
Men’s Top 10
- Marwan El Shorbagy (Egypt) 66.67 pts
- Mahesh Mangaonkar (India) 55.00
- Mohamed Abouelghar (Egypt) 46.67
- Tom de Mulder (Netherlands) 44.33
- Mario Yanez (Mexico) 41.67
- Ahmed Abdel Khalek (Egypt) 41.67
- Declan James (England) 38.33
- Tatu Knuutila (Finland) 34.33
- Tom Ford (England) 34.33
- Tyler Osborne (Canada) 32.67
Women’s Top 10
- Emily Whitlock (England) 76.67 pts
- Anaka Alankamony (India) 73.33
- Nour El Tayeb (Egypt) 66.67
- Nour El Sherbini (Egypt) 44.67
- Maria Elena Ubina (USA) 45.00
- Lee Ka Ti (Hong Kong China) 42.67
- Caroline Sayegh (Germany) 32.67
- Aparajitha Balamurukan (India) 29.33
- Julia Lecoq (France) 29.33
- Amanda Sobhy (USA) 26.67