Australian team selected for World Junior Championships
Published Mon 19 May 2025
Squash Australia is pleased to announce the 12 athletes who have been selected to represent their country at the 2025 World Junior Championships in Cairo, Egypt.
Six male and six female players will contest the individual event from 21 to 26 July, followed by the World Junior Teams Championship from 27 July to 1 August.
Six of the eight players selected return after appearing at the 2024 Junior World Championships in Houston, with Hannah Slyth competing for the fourth straight year.
NSW pair Marcus Wang and Jackson Wylie will compete at the Junior World Championships for the first time, joining Kasper Cheung (NSW) and Haider Naqvi (VIC) in the men’s team.
The women’s team unchanged from the 2024 World Juniors, with Slyth again joined by Australian Junior Open champion Emmy Lamb (NSW), Australian Junior Championships winner Sarbani Maitra (QLD) and runner-up in both of those events, Joanne Joseph (VIC).
A recent update to the entry numbers for the individual event allowed each country to select two additional junior men and junior women for the the individual competition, Darcy Hayes (VIC), Tina Ma (VIC), Miley Palmer (NSW) and Josh Raj (QLD) have also been selected.
“Squash Australia congratulates all the players on the efforts which have contributed to selection for the World Junior Championships this year,” said Lachlan Johnston, Squash Australia High Performance Director. “We had a really solid few weeks of competition in April with the AJO, Oceania Junior Championships and Trans Tasman Test which allowed all the athletes to put their hand up for selection.
“We’re confident this group of players will represent Australia well, both in the individual and team events in Cairo.
“It’s great to see two debutants in the men’s team, with Marcus and Jackson being rewarded for the hard work they’ve put in over the past 12 months.
“We’re also really looking forward to seeing an unchanged junior women’s team looking to improve on their result from Houston. With the whole team having experienced the World Juniors before, they’re much more prepared for the standard of the event.,
Australia has a rich history at the World Junior Championships, most recently hosting the event two years ago in Melbourne. The honour roll includes Chris Robertson, Robyn Friday, Sarah Fitz-Gerald and Rachael Grinham, while national coach Stewart Boswell was runner up in 1996 when the men’s event was last held in Cairo.
National Pathways Coach Jenny Duncalf and National Coach Stewart Boswell will be joined on the coaching team in Cairo by recent PSA Hall of Fame inductee Michelle Martin.
2025 World Squash World Junior Championships
21 July-1 August | Cairo EGY
AUSTRALIAN TEAM (alphabetical order)
Men: Kasper Cheung (NSW), Darcy Hayes*^ (VIC), Haider Naqvi (VIC), Josh Raj*^ (QLD), Marcus Wang* (NSW), Jackson Wylie* (NSW)
Women: Joanne Joseph (VIC), Emmy Lamb (NSW), Tina Ma*^ (VIC), Sarbani Maitra (QLD), Miley Palmer*^ (NSW), Hannah Slyth (WA)
Coaches: Jenny Duncalf, Stewart Boswell, Michelle Martin
* debutant
^ individual event only
