Squash Canada – BIELSKO-BIALA, POLAND, August 8, 2016 – The action is underway at the World Squash Federation’s 2016 World Junior Squash Championships in Beilsko-Biala, Poland.  With Canadian team members Michael Mehl, Ravi Seth, Rahul Sehrawat, Matthew Henderson and Noel Heaton currently fighting through the Individual Draw the team is gearing up for Friday when the Men’s Team Event is set to begin.  

Their journey commenced well before the World Championships began on Saturday, when they arrived in Prague where the team trained for four days at the Hector Sports Centre to acclimatize to the time zone.  The team is now settled in Bielsko-Biala and are getting stronger as individual players and as a team each day.  

 Seventeen-year-old Michael Mehl brings a surplus of experience to the team, “2 years ago I had the pleasure of representing Canada in the Junior World Championships held in Winhoek, Namibia.  Although I wasn’t able to participate in the Team event, I accumulated valuable experience and was exposed to squash at a world class level.  Through this exposure I have adapted my training to ensure that I am fit to represent Canada at this years Junior Worlds.  We have a solid team this time around, and every representative has merit to back that up,” says Michael who will be leading the team as the number one player and the team captain.

Although this is the first Junior World Championships for Rahul, Ravi, Matt, and Noel, experience is not absent; the U19 Canadian Junior Open champion Matthew Henderson brings an edge to the team through achieving this international success.  Ravi and Noel both are respective Silver and Gold Medalists at the Canada Games and Rahul is a seasoned player as his international successes have secured him a top position at the Columbia University Team in New York.  

The team has shown that they are ready for the world class competition.  Coaches, Jonathan Hill and Andrew McDougall, are well aware of the task ahead but have high expectations for their talented team at the Team Event.  “This World’s has many countries with great depth so there are going to be some very strong pools to fight through” says Hill who is hoping to improve on Canada’s 13th place at the previous World’s in Namibia.

Stay connected and follow the team as they compete – here’s how: 
World Juniors Site – for results and draw information: http://wsfworldjuniors.org/ Watch live – catch the matches live online:    http://wsfworldjuniors.org/watch-live/ Squash Canada Twitter:     https://twitter.com/squashcanada  Instagram:                         @teamcanadasquash  WSF Junior Champions Twitter:     https://twitter.com/WSFworldjuniors

ABOUT SQUASH CANADA Founded in 1915, Squash Canada is a non-profit, national sport governing body responsible for the development of athletes, coaches and officials and sets the standards for Canadian squash. Squash Canada is a proud member of the Pan-American and World Squash Federations and participates in the Pan-American Championships, Commonwealth & Pan-Am Games as well as World Championships at the junior and senior level. Each year Squash Canada hosts nine national championships across the country and works with its provincial and territorial partners to promote the growth and development of squash across the country.  For more information, please visit www.squash.ca. 

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For more information: Britany Gordon Programs Manager, Squash Canada (613) 228-7724 x202 britany.gordon@squash.ca