OTTAWA, ON, May 22, 2019 – For the first time in history, Canada is hosting the prestigious Pan American Junior Squash Championships. Canada’s top juniors will battle it out on home soil against a field of 11 other Pan American countries from June 16-22, 2019 at the Mayfair Lakeshore Racquet Club in Toronto, Ontario.
The Championships feature many of the top junior squash players under 19 years of age from North, South and Central America as well as the Caribbean. There are 78 athletes (35 girls and 43 boys), representing 12 countries: Argentina, Barbados, Bermuda, Canada, Colombia, Ecuador, El Salvador, Grand Cayman, Guatemala, Mexico, Peru and the United States.
For many that attend the event, the Pan American Junior Squash Championships is the pinnacle of their junior squash career. It offers an amazing opportunity for these rising stars to gain experience playing at an International level and to prepare them for a future as a professional squash player. There are number of opportunities for players to compete with seven categories that include: boy’s and girl’s individual events, boy’s and girl’s team competition and boys, girls and mixed doubles.
Toronto 2019 will also mark the first time in the history of the Pan Am Junior Squash Championships that a host country will include a companion event - the “Slaight Music Showcase”. This event will feature Canada’s top U17 boys and girls and allows the losers of the first round of the Pan Am individual draws to be fed into the companion draw for additional matches. This will be a fantastic opportunity for our talented U17 juniors to gain experience playing International athletes.
Team Canada is no stranger to the Junior Pan Am spotlight, achieving great success at the 2018 event held in Brasilia, Brazil. Team Canada brought home a bronze medal in the junior boy’s individual event, silver in mixed doubles, and a gold medal in the junior boy’s team tournament. The junior girl’s team finished a solid fifth place in the event. In addition to their impressive results, Team Canada also received the Fair Play Trophy.
Finally, many of Canada’s top officials will also be working the event. Led by Tournament Referee Dave Howard, the host nation will be represented by Wayne Smith, David Fishburn, Bob Mansbridge, Gio Piccolino, and Viano Oghenekevwe.
“It was a great honour to be awarded this Championship and Canada expresses its tremendous appreciation to the FPS, South and Central America and the Caribbean for their support,” said Tournament Chair Lolly Gillen. “Once again, I can’t thank Gary Slaight of Slaight Music enough for his tremendous generosity in sponsoring this event from day one. I am confident with their state-of-the-art facility and extensive experience in hosting National Championships that the talented staff at Mayfair Clubs Lakeshore will set a remarkable stage for Team Canada to go for GOLD!”
For more information please visit:
2019 Pan American Junior Squash Championships -- Event Webpage
Federacion Panamericana de Squash -- Facebook Page