Ryde’s Shehana Vithana looking to make an impact at World Junior Championships

Shehana takes love of squash to new heights

Ryde resident Shehana Vithana will head to New Zealand to represent Australia in the WSF World Junior Squash Championships.

• Defence the difference
• Passion a key motivator

Ryde’s very own squash champion Shehana Vithana is at the forefront of the sport’s Australian resurgence.

Australia’s top-ranked women’s U19 player, Vithana will head to New Zealand next week to represent her adopted country at the WSF World Junior Squash Championships.

Vithana was born and raised in Sri Lanka, where she began playing squash at the age of nine.

When she and her family moved to Australia four years ago, she brought her love for the sport with her but was surprised at squash’s low participation level.

That could soon change however, as the sport’s fitness benefits and available pathways through the US college system leading to a recent resurgence of squash in Australia.

Vithana is the number one U19 women’s player in Australia and trains with Geoff Davenport at MAASH at Marsfield.

Geoff Davenport, who is Vithana’s coach at MAASH Sports and Fitness Marsfield, says that it’s an incredibly exciting time for Australian squash.

“Traditionally Australian juniors have not gone on with the game after juniors due to the isolation and cost to compete, this is now no longer the case,” the five-time world masters champion said.

“It’s a hard grind and expensive coming out of juniors and trying to have success on the senior tour, but the standard of the college system is now so good that players finish their studies and find themselves being able to compete at the international level.

“Players like Ali Farag from Egypt basically finished college as a ready-made world top 20 player, meaning he could make a good living immediately.”

Vithana will get her chance to impress US college scouts next week when the world juniors competition commences on Wednesday.