Hania El Hammamy and Mostafa Asal are the defending men's and women's champions in the World Junior Squash Championships ©WSF

The World Squash Federation (WSF) has announced the postponement of the World Junior Squash Championships due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The tournament, which was scheduled to take place in Cairo, Egypt in August, has because of the pandemic and the impact it is having on international travel.

Organisers are hopeful of rescheduling the tournament to later in the year but new dates have not yet been announced.

"Whilst we are naturally disappointed to postpone the World Junior Squash Championships, the situation surrounding international travel and the health and safety issues that remain as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic make postponing the tournament a logical choice," said WSF chief executive William Louis-Marie.

"We believe that by postponing the tournament, we can focus our efforts on creating a safe environment to compete, while giving all of our member federations equal opportunity to enter teams into the championships.

"At the moment, the differing travel restrictions affecting countries around the world makes this impossible.

"We are in close contact with the Egyptian Squash Federation to find alternative dates later on in the year, and we hope to be able to provide a further update in the coming months."

Mostafa Asal and Hania El Hammamy, both of Egypt, are the defending men’s and women’s champions in the event, following the cancellation of last year’s tournament, which was due to take place in the Gold Coast, Australia.

Asal is currently ranked 12th in the world in the men's rankings while El Hammamy is ranked seventh in the world and last year won the Women's Black Ball Squash Open, a Professional Squash Association World Tour Platinum event, after beating compatriot Nour El Sherbini in the final in five games.

Egyptian Squash Federation President Assem Khalifa said: "Our objective is to bring the best junior players in the world to Egypt for the WSF World Junior Squash Championships and postponing the tournament to later this year will enable us to do so, which is important to support the squash community in these trying times.

"I have full confidence in our capacity to host the tournament later on in 2021 and look forward to welcoming the juniors from all over the world and giving them a taste of the Egyptian culture."