WSF World Junior Squash Championships 20 July – 31 July 2026, Niagara-on-the-Lake, Canada
In 2024, South Korea stormed onto the squash world stage at World Juniors in Houston. South Korea surprised the squash community when their boys’ team came second in the competition last year. Ahead of the 2025 World Juniors in Cairo, South Korea is looking to go one step further.
One of the country’s top male talent is Jooyoung Na. He made a significant impression last year at World Juniors and discussed what it meant to him to represent South Korean on the global stage.
“It is always fun to play on behalf of my country,” Na said. “I’m going to concentrate more and work harder than ever because I’ll be wearing the Korean flag on my chest.”
Backing up last year’s success is high on the agenda for South Korea’s junior players. Their performance in 2024 shocked the world when they defeated the USA squad in the boys’ team event to secure them second place after narrowly losing out to Egypt in the final. Na was incredibly proud of his team’s performance last year.
“Until two years ago, we had a feeling of shrinking in terms of squash success because we had never done well at the World Junior Championships, but last year, my team and I performed well to inspire confidence in the team. We are looking forward to this year’s competition.”
The success at World Juniors last year sparked an investigation undertaken by Squash Player Magazine that explored the domestic squash leagues in South Korea. The domestic leagues there incentivise players to represent clubs within the country due to the generous salaries paid out by those clubs. Home grown players in South Korea have previously stayed within the confines of their own country due to the generous payouts.
Yet, with the inclusion of squash in the LA2028 Olympic Games and last year’s World Juniors success for South Korea, players are beginning to look outside of the domestic leagues in their country.
Jooyoung Na commented on the positive improvements of squash in South Korea because of the sport’s inclusion in the Olympics.
“I think the squash level in Korea is improving a lot not only for juniors but also for all players who are gradually progressing and giving increasingly better performances on the court.
“As squash enters the Olympics, it seems that squash players are making more efforts to pursue their Olympic dreams and participate in the Olympics. In the meantime, if you play more games and gain confidence from the results at home and at international tournaments, you will continue to see positive things in return.”
Jooyoung Na has the ambition of playing a mixture of domestic club competitions and representing his country on the PSA Squash Tour.
“I want to be active in the PSA tour and be active in the Korean team. I’m still playing the PSA tour now, but I can’t play as much as other players because I also have junior matches. I’m thinking of playing more PSA events after my time as a junior is over.
“I have been playing many competitions to adjust my body to the standard of squash required at tournaments like World Juniors. I have been focusing on my sense of play by playing in PSA events, junior competitions, and Korean competitions. And I am systematically doing weight training and maintaining my muscle strength.”
Na looks to his role model Son Heung-min for sporting inspiration. Hueng-min is a South Korean footballer who currently represents Tottenham Hotspur in the English Premier League (EPL). Alongside Mohammad Salah, he scored the most goals in the EPL during the 2021/22 season.
“Son Heung-min, a Korean soccer player, is a role model. Sonny is a player whose career has been incredibly successful, and he’s won the golden boot in the EPL.
“But he really loves to play for his country and is always grateful, so I have a similar desire to perform well on behalf of my country, so I use him as a role model.”
Jooyoung Na will be representing South Korea in Cairo during the 2025 World Juniors. He’ll be channelling the mentality of his role model with his strategic match preparation with the goal of getting his country on the podium for the second year running, ideally with a gold medal in hand.
For more information on the World Juniors, click here.
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