KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia continued to display a dominating performance when seven players advanced to the semi-finals at the 2019 British Junior Open (BJO) squash tournament, in Birmingham participated by more than 750 girls and boys from 50 countries.
Based on the number of semi-finalists, Malaysia were in second place behind squash superpower Egypt, who had 20 players and ahead of hosts England with five, whereby the three nations grabbed more than three-quarters of the 40 semi-final spots, according to the tournament’s official website, britishjunioropen.com.
The biggest surprise for Malaysia was when the joint 5/8 seed Harith Danial Jefri upset top seed Taha Ibrahim 11-4, 11-5, 11-6 in the quarter-finals of the boys’ Under 13 (U-13) category on Friday night (early Saturday in Malaysia).
The 12-year-old would next face joint 3/4 seed Yuvraj Wadhwani of India, who defeated another Egyptian Yassin Talaat 11-9, 11-7, 11-6, Friday night.
Malaysia had a good chance to secure the both boys’ and girls’ U-11 category when top seeds M. Nickhileswar ousted Jack Elriani of United States 11-5, 11-1, 11-9 to set an appointment with Seif Eldeen Dahshan of Egypt, while Jayden Oon also progressed after beating Kareem Fanous 9-11, 16-14, 11-8, 8-11, 11-7 in the boys category.
The girls’ U-11 top seed Whitney Wilson overcame Egypt’s Remass Ibrahim 11-4, 11-5, 11-2 to face another Egyptian, Shahad Hani.
In the boys’ U-15, C. Ameeshanraj cruised into the semi-finals after eliminating Shreyas Mehta of India to set up a clash against Pakistan’s Noor Zaman. Defending champion Aira Azman, the top seed in the girls’ U-15 had to work hard to defeat Egypt’s Haya Mohamed 8-11, 11-3, 11-6, 13-11 to play hosts’ Torrie Malik in the semi-finals.
Siow Yee Xian became the last Malaysian to join the fray after eliminating Ondrej Vorlícek of Czech Republic 11-9, 11-2, 11-1 to face England’s Nick Wall in the boys’ U-19.
However, Malaysia failed to defend the Girls U-19 won by S. Sivasangari last year, when all three Malaysian girls were ousted in the quarter-finals.
Last year’s girls’ U-17 champion, Aifa Azman went down fighting 11-6, 12-14, 11-8, 3-11, 6-11 to top seed Hania El Hammamy of Egypt, Ooi Kah Yan lost 4-11, 11-8, 6-11, 5-11 to hosts Elise Lazarus, while Chan Yiwen was downed by Egypt’s Farida Mohamed 9-11, 3-11, 13-11, 11-8, 4-11. –Bernama
