30 June 2013
SQUASH: Five of the best
THE national juniors put on an impressive display to sweep five of the eight finals at the Asian Junior Championships in Amman, Jordan yesterday to improve on last year's tally of three.
Only the girls' and boys' Under-19 finals did not feature a Malaysian but that was not the case with the lower age-group categories.
Two of the finals were all-Malaysian affairs and the depth of the national juniors was clear to see when girls Under-15 defending champion S. Sivasangari was ousted in Friday's semi-finals by a teammate.
Ng Eain Yow (boys' Under-15) and Nur Aliah Anis Mohammad (girls' Under-13) were the other winners last year in Kish Island, Iran.
Ooi Kah Yan, who upset top seed Aifa Azman in the semi-finals, started the ball rolling by winning the girls' Under-13 title with an 11-78, 11-5, 8-11, 11-8 victory over second seed Lui Hui Lam of Hong Kong.
Hafiz Zhafri Abdul Harif lived up to his top billing in the boys Under-13 event after beating Veer Chotrani of India 11-6, 14-12, 12-10.
Andrea Lee took advantage of the shock semi-final defeat of top seed Sivasangari to fellow national junior Zoe Foo to win the girls' Under-15 title 11-7, 10-12, 9-11, 11-5, 11-4.
Farez Izwan Mukhtar then rallied from two games down against second seed Mohammad Alsarraj of Jordan before winning the boys' Under-15 title 9-11, 10-12, 11-7, 11-7, 11-4.
Nazihah Hanis Abdul Razak however lost in the girls' Under-17 final to top seed Choi Uen Shan of Hong Kong 11-7, 11-9, 11-6.
The fifth title came in the boys' Under-17 event where top seed Syafiq Kamal and Eain Yow were playing in all-Malaysian final late yesterday.
Malaysia did not have a representative in the girls' Under-19 final after Vanessa Raj was beaten by top seed Anaka Alankamony of India 11-6, 6-11, 11-3, 11-8.
All eight Malaysian finalists won tickets to next year's British Junior Open in Sheffield, England courtesy of CIMB Foundation through their junior development programme.
By Devinder Singh
Read more: SQUASH: Five of the best - Other - New Straits Times http://www.nst.com.my/sports/other/squash-five-of-the-best-1.310223#ixzz2XgHMg4Se
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