By ALAN THATCHER – Squash Mad Editor

The World Squash Federation has awarded the 2022 WSF World Junior Championships to the French Squash Federation following the tournament’s relocation from St Petersburg.

Russia was banned from hosting events following the invasion of Ukraine.

The World Juniors will now be hosted in the north-east city of Nancy between August 11-21. The event will feature a junior men’s and women’s individual competitions plus the men’s junior team championships.

France has a strong pedigree of hosting major WSF tournaments, including Marseille hosting the 2017 Men’s World Team Squash Championships and Paris hosting the 2016 Women’s World Team Squash Championships.

WSF President Zena Wooldridge, OBE, paid tribute to FFSquash for planning a major tournament at short notice, saying: ”On behalf of the WSF, I would like to extend sincere thanks to the French Squash Federation for stepping in so enthusiastically to host this year’s Championships.

“Losing the last two years’ Championships to the pandemic has made the hosting of this year’s World Championships even more critical for the most talented young players to come together once again to compete for the most coveted titles in junior squash.

“France has a wonderful track record of hosting events of the highest quality and I’m sure it will attract a big entry. France has also produced some talented young players in recent years who are making huge strides on the world stage and I have no doubt they will be eager to impress on home ground.”

FFSquash President Julien Muller added: “It is both a great responsibility and a great challenge to organise this event in a few months, but one that we are enthusiastically undertaking.

“The development of squash among young people is a major priority of the federation. After two years of disruption caused by COVID-19, it was important to us to do everything to deliver this event and allow the best juniors from around the world to take part in these championships.

“The FFSquash is thrilled to be hosting these Championships in Nancy and making it a great experience for players, spectators and volunteers. We also hope that this will be an opportunity to highlight squash in France as well as showing the best of France to the world.”

Pictures courtesy of World Squash Federation