Fifty Americans have traveled across the pond to compete in the 2018 Dunlop British Junior Open, January 3-7, at Edgbaston Priory Club and Birmingham University in Birmingham, England.
For the first time in tournament history, the British Junior Open will include U11 draws, which sees ten additional American players join the delegation that had previously been forty players for the past three years. Five elite Team USA players were selected to compete in each division, boys’ and girls’ U11, U13, U15, U17 and U19.
Select matches will be live streamed from the glass court at Birmingham University and courts 1-4 at Edgbastion Priory Club. Match times and locations, seedings and draws are available on the British Junior Open tournament page.
In the fourth annual trip to the BJO, Team USA will aim to improve on record results in 2017 that saw sixteen Americans–including five unseeded players–progress to the round of sixteen and seven reach the quarterfinals.
Of the fifty Americans, sixteen are seeded to reach the round of sixteen and four seeded to reach the quarterfinals.
“The exposure to world-class competition is an integral part of our national team programming, not only for our athletes who continue to show improvements on the world stage, but also for our team of ten coaches who provide great insight and advice for the athletes to ensure they are prepared for competition,” said Rich Wade, US Squash Senior Director of National Teams. “It is exciting to take a team of sixty athletes and coaches to England for a trip of a lifetime, something everyone will remember for years to come and hopefully we can return with the results we believe we can achieve.”
U.S. Junior Open GU19 champion and two-time U.S. junior champion Marina Stefanoni is the top seed in the GU17 division. Should the Darien, Connecticut-native fulfill her seeding, the fifteen year old would become the first American to win a BJO title since Olivia Blatchford won the GU15 in 2007.
Elsewhere in the GU17 division, Binney Huffman enters the draw as a 5/8 seed. In the GU11 and BU11 divisions, Eliza Schuster and Christian Capella also enter the tournament as 5/8 seeds.
Follow @TeamUSASquash on Twitter for more live updates throughout the tournament.
2018 Dunlop British Junior Open Team USA Roster
Coaching Staff
Christina Brownell
Luke Butterworth
Henry Clutsam
Wael El Hindi
Laurent Elriani
Mostafa Essam
Charlie Johnson
Simba Muhwati
Annette Pilling
Georgina Stoker
Jeremy Mayer (physio)
GU11
[5/8] Eliza Schuster
[9/16] Samantha Jaffe
[9/16] Dixon Hill
Alexandra Jaffe
Grace Lodge
BU11
[5/8] Christian Capella
[9/16] Blake Lee
[9/16] Hart Robertson
Ilya Kipkalov
Jack Elriani
GU13
[9/16] Emma Trauber
[9/16] Madison Ho
[9/16] Quincy Cline
[9/16] Khushi Kukadia
Zanya Usman
BU13
[9/16] Hunter Robertson
[9/16] Mason Menin
[9/16] Andrew Glaser
Nick Agger
Ethan Benstock
GU15
[9/16] Nina Mital
[9/16] Lucie Stefanoni
Abigail Schuster
Natasha Pensler
Maureen Foley
BU15
[9/16] Shaam Gambhir
Auggie Bhavsar
Rohan Iyer
C.J. Baldini
Gonzalo De La Mora
GU17
[1] Marina Stefanoni
[5/8] Binney Huffman
Olivia Robinson
Ashley Manning
Emma Carney
BU17
Maxwell Velazquez
Dillon Huang
Thomas Rosini
Jed Burde
Brian Leonard
GU19
[9/16] Elisabeth Ross
Grace Steelman
Claire Aube
Elizabeth Lentz
Haley Aube
BU19
[9/16] Charles Culhane
Patrick McElroy
Eric Kim
Ned Mylod
Peter Miller
