The Women’s World Team Championship – which starts in less than two weeks in Paris – is not only about title holders England, or Egypt and their three players in the world top 4. There are smaller nations who haven’t made the top 10 for a long time (in fact, never for most of them). Nevertheless they will fight as hard as any other team to create some upsets and climb in the rankings. Today we focus on Germany, Mexico, Spain, Japan and Austria.
SPAIN
Spain may be the only team in the event with no player in the world top 100 but numbers don’t tell the whole story. Their number 1, 30 year-old Xisela Aranda, may have never reached the top 100 but she’s often beaten much higher ranked players in previous team events and in the very few PSA tournaments she’s played (she runs her own company – TopGame and is a speaker in leadership). 18 year-old Cristina Gomez hasn’t made her debut on the senior tour yet but she’s won four European junior tournaments in the last 12 months and as a result climbed on top of the rankings. She came close to beat France’s Laura Pomportes in a recent French League match. Most of the Spanish girls have been together in the team for a long time and will be coached by former teammate Margaux Pitarch.
TEAM FACTS
Spain’s result in 2014 in WWTC
Seventeenth
Spain’s best result in WWTC
Thirteenth in 1996
PLAYERS’ FACTS
XISELA ARANDA
30 years old … #160 in the world (November 2016) … Highest world ranking 137 in October 2016 … 7 times Spanish Nationals champion … Played for Spain in the 2008, 2012 and 2014 Women’s World Team Championships.
MARTA LATORRE
23 years old … #180 in the world (November 2016) … Highest world ranking 173 in May 2016 … 2013 and 2015 Spanish Nationals semi-finalist.
MARINA JUAN DE GALLACH
22 years old … #187 in the world (November 2016) … Highest world ranking 129 in June 2015 … 2013 and 2015 Spanish Nationals semi-finalist … Played for Spain in the 2012 and 2014 Women’s World Team Championships.
CRISTINA GOMEZ
18 years old … #237 in the world (November 2016) … Highest world ranking 215 in July 2016 … #1 in the European junior rankings … #3 in the World junior rankings … 2016 Belgium, Nordic and French Junior Open Champion … 2015 Swiss Junior Open Champion … 2014, 2015 and 2016 Spanish Nationals runner-up … Played for Spain in the 2012 and 2014 Women’s World Team Championships.
Source: www.squashinfo.com
More info on