France go into the 2025 ESF European U19 Individual and Mixed Team Championships as favourites — with England coach Tim Vail admitting, “We’re the underdogs for a change.”
French duo Amir Khaled-Jousselin and Lauren Baltayan are the respective top seeds for the boys’ and girls’ Individual championships from 12-15 April at the Hector Sport Centre in Prague. There is then a rest day before the Mixed Team event (17-20 April) at the same venue, in which France will seek to defend the historic title they won in Bucharest last year, where they brought England’s 12-year domination to an end.
Jousselin, who is still only 16, has been a revelation for France since he dramatically won the deciding match in last year’s European U19 Team final against England’s Abdallah Eissa. The boy from Nancy finished third in January’s British Junior Open BU17 and has exceeded his seeding in all four of the PSA Tour events he has played so far.
Baltayan, 17, was also instrumental in France’s history-making Mixed Team victory in Bucharest. She has since become an established member of the French national senior team, has won two PSA Tour titles and finished third in the GU19 at this year’s British Junior Open.
ESF European U19 Individual Championships
Jousselin and Baltayan will take some stopping in the Individual event in Prague, which begins on Saturday (12 April). Czech Republic’s Martin Stepan, England’s Alex Broadbridge and Jan Samborski of Poland are seeded to be Jousselin’s main Individual title rivals.
Top seed Baltayan is seeded to face Germany’s Maya Weishar in the girls’ Individual final, with 3/4 seeds Renske Huntelaar of the Netherlands and England’s 16-year-old Mariam Eissa also expected to feature at the business end.
Check out the European U19 Individual seedings here
ESF European U19 Mixed Team Championships
The Team event has changed format this year, with two boys and two girls in each team. England coach Tim Vail says this may favour England, even if he does admit they are “underdogs” compared to the defending champions.
“The new format might work slightly in our favour as our second and third girls [Olivia Owens and Emily Coulcher-Porter] could be stronger than France’s. They have some outstanding individual players, but we may have more strength in depth.
“We’ve been successful over the years and we want to do well again, but for a change we’ll be the underdogs. It takes the pressure off our players a little bit. The pressure is all on France, so let’s see how they handle it.”
Check out all the Mixed Team line-ups here
You can watch coverage of the 2025 ESF European U19 Individual and Mixed Team Championships live from Prague on European Squash TV.
