Malaysia hope to make girls’ team final
PETALING JAYA: Malaysia hope to reach the girls’ team final at the World Junior Squash Championships in New Zealand to make up for the individual event disappointment.
In the individual competition last week, only S. Sivasangari and Andrea Lee managed to reach the quarter-finals of the Under-19 competition in Tauranga.
Both Malaysians lost in five sets to their Egyptian rivals. Sivasangari was beaten by top seed Hania El Hammamy while Andrea lost to joint third-fourth seed Rowan Reda.
The other three Malaysians – Zoe Foo, Aifa Azman and Chan Yiwen – were ousted in the fourth round.
National junior coach Andrew Cross, however, is confident that Sivasangari and Co will recover from the setback to reach the team final.
“Our players did pretty well. They all had chances to win and only lost by very small margins. For the team event, they just need to
do things a little better to turn the results around,” said Cross.
Malaysia have been seeded second courtesy of Sivasangari and Andrea’s quarter-final finish. Malaysia face Germany today in Group B. Canada are the other side in the group. Egypt, who are bidding for their sixth straight title, are the top seeds.
They are in Group A with Australia and hosts New Zealand. Malaysia finished third in Eindhoven, Holland, two years ago.
Meanwhile, Egypt ruled supreme in the individual event with 16-year-old Rowan beating Hania 11-7, 11-9, 11-8 in the girls’ final on Sunday.
In the boys’ final, Marwan Tarek downed France’s Victor Crouin 11-9, 3-11, 11-6, 3-11, 11-2.
The boys’ team event will be held next year.