England’s Sam Todd and USA’s Caroline Fouts have been named as top seeds in the 2022 British Junior Open Under 19 Championships, to be held from 20th to 24th July at Nottingham Squash Rackets Club after the draws were released this week.
Regarded as the world’s most prestigious junior tournament, the England Squash platinum competition will make its first appearance on the calendar since 2020 due to the global COVID-19
pandemic.
Entries have been backdated in order to allow players affected by the cancellation of the original 2022 event in January the chance to compete.
Todd tops the 48-player boys draw and receives a bye into the second round where he will face either compatriot [25/32] Alex Broadbridge or [33/48] Ross Oliver as he looks to capture the
boy’s Drysdale Cup and his fourth British Junior Open title.
The World No.76 is seeded to meet Pakistan’s [3/4] Noor Zaman in the last four in what could be a repeat of the 2020 British Junior Open Under 17 semi-final which saw Todd emerge victorious.
At the opposite end of the draw is Pakistan’s [2] Muhammad Hamza Khan – the current US Junior Open Under 19 champion. The 16-year-old faces stern competition on his side of the draw with
the likes of the Netherlands’ [3/4] Rowan Damming, a European Junior Under 15 champion and former English Junior champion [5/8] Hassan Khalil of England.
Along with Todd and Khalil, there is strong home interest in the boy’s draw with [5/8] Jonah Bryant, a former British Junior Open champion and [5/8] Sam Osborne-Wylde, a European Under 19
semi-finalist – both looking to make an impact.
The girls’ draw is led by US Junior Open Under 19 semi-finalist Caroline Fouts of the USA following
the withdrawal of World No.71 and current European Under 19 champion Katie Malliff.
A potential all-American final showdown awaits with Lucie Stefanoni, the World No.83 seeded second.
Home interest comes in the form of [3/4] Torrie Malik – the five-time English Junior champion – and [3/4] Asia Harris, the current US Junior Under 17 champion with both looking to upset
proceedings and add to their impressive medal hauls.
