Sivasangari, Duncan in semis of British Junior Open

KUALA LUMPUR: National junior squash player S Sivasangari has booked a semifinal berth to stay on course to the 2017 British Junior Open Squash Championship title at Sheffield, England.

The Kedah- born joint 3rd/4th seed in the Girls’ Under-19 category marched into the last-four stage after edging compatriot Andrea Lee 11- 9, 11- 5, 9 - 11, 11- 7 in 38 minutes on Wednesday, according to the tournament website, www. britishjunioropen.com.

In the semifinal scheduled for Thursday, the 17 year old will be up against Zeina Mickawy who upset the tournament’s second- seeded Amina Yousry 11-7, 11- 6, 9-11, 6-11, 12-10 in an all-Egyptian battle.

Besides Sivasangari, Jessica Keng also progressed to the semifinals, in the Under 15 category, by beating Nour Ibrahim 11-9, 114, 11- 5 to set up an appointment with another Egyptian, Farida Ahmed. In the Under-13 category, top seed Aira Azman did not see much of a fight to overcome host representative Torrie Malik 12- 10, 11- 4, 11-7 in 21 minutes to meet joint 3rd/4th seed Salma El Tayeb of Egypt.

However, lady luck was not in favour of her sister Aifa in the Under-17 category. Aifa lost 6-11, 1012, 9-11 to Elise Lazarus of England after fighting for 48 minutes.

In the boys’ category, rookie Duncan Lee is the only Malaysian left in the challenge after he outclassed Karim El Barbary of Egypt 10-12, 11- 5, 12-10, 11-9 to face Abdelrahman Dweek of Canada in the last-four stage. — Bernama