Imran on the upswing
IT is all going to plan for former World Under-11 champion Imran Daniel Abdul Hazli following another strong season on the junior circuit, both in Asia as well as in the United States.
Competing in the under-12 category, Imran reached the roundof-16 at the Eddie Herr International Junior Championships and Junior Orange Bowl International Championships in Florida recently. The two events are among the prestigious junior tournaments in the world.
At Eddie Herr, Imran was forced to retire in his match against Mexico’s Rodrigo Pacheco Mendez after dislocating a bone in his right foot. He lost to top seeded Belgian Alexander Blockx at Orange Bowl.
His father-cum-coach, Hazli Zainuddin said Imran, 12, is progressing at about the same level as his western counterparts.
“I am quite happy with the progress he has made this year considering that he has not been able to play as many tournaments as his rivals from Europe or the States,” said Hazli.
“I do not think a Malaysian has reached this far in either tournaments (Eddie Herr and Orange Bowl).
“He is technically sound and is on par with them (counterparts) or maybe even slightly ahead of them at the moment which is a good sign.
“He is at a size disadvantage at the moment as he has yet to reach puberty while many of his rivals have already hit 1.60m and some even 1.70m in this under-12 group.”
Hazli listed Imran’s victory at the Bangkok leg of the Asian Under-14 Circuit in April, where he competed in a higher age group, as one of the highlights of the year as well as reaching the singles final in one leg of the National Under-16 Circuit.
He added that Imran, who is on the radar of a world class sports management company, will continue to focus on competing in higher age groups next season.
Imran, who recently signed with Wilson International, has also attracted interest from a well known sports management company and if that goes through, they will help with planning his development. Fadhli Ishak