Squash girls get ready for real test in New Zealand

PETALING JAYA: All five Malaysian girls have had it quite easy en route to reaching the fourth round of the World Junior Squash Championships in Tauranga, New Zealand.

But now the real test begins for the five – Andrea Lee, Chan Yiwen, Aifa Azman, S. Sivasangari and Zoe Foo.

World No. 80 Andrea led the way with an 11-5, 11-8, 11-3 demolition of American Grace Doyle in the third round yesterday.

Andrea, seeded joint fifth-eighth, will face England’s joint ninth-12th

seed Elise Lazarus for a place in the last eight.

The pressure is certainly on the Malaysians to outperform their English counterparts in order to be given a better seeding for next week’s team event.

“The games I’ve played so far haven’t been that competitive but they’re a good warm-up for matches to come,” said Andrea.

“I watched Elise play earlier. She’s a shot-maker and very aggressive, so it’s not going to be easy playing against her.”

Joint 13th-16th seeds Yiwen and Aifa also have tough fourth-round opponents, who are both Egyptians.

Yiwen will face top seed Hania El Hammamy while Aifa will meet second seed Zeina Mickawy.

Sivasangari and Zoe will face each other for a place in the quarter-finals.

In the boys’ event, Malaysia’s challenge has been whittled to just two players – Ong Sai Hung and Darren Rahul Pragasam – after 16-year-old debutants Mohd Hafiz Zhafri and Danial Nurhaqiem crashed out against seeded opponents.

Sai Hung, the joint 13th-16th seed, fought from two sets down to beat Egypt’s Ahmed Elmashad 3-11, 5-11, 13-11, 11-5, 11-4 and set up a meeting against top seed Youssef Ibrahim of Egypt next.

National junior champion Darren dropped a set before beating American Tiber Worth 11-5, 9-11, 11-9, 11-8.