M’sia grab one as Egypt sweep six BJO titles

KUALA LUMPUR: National junior squash player Harleein Tan grabbed her maiden international title this season by winning the Girls Under-11 (U-11) crown at the 2020 British Junior Open (BJO) Squash Tournament in Birmingham on Monday.

The 10-year-old Negeri Sembilanborn player, who is joint 3/4th seed, beat the second seeded Mariam Eissa of England 11-6, 11-9, 12-10 in the final at the University of Birmingham Glass Court, according to the tournament website https:// britishjunioropen.com.

Harleein had stunned top seed Jana Mohamed of Egypt 11-4, 11-5, 11-7 in the semi-finals on Sunday.

Meanwhile, Aifa Azman failed in her bid to capture her fourth BJO title after losing 7-11, 6-11,14-16 to top seed Jana Shiha of Egypt in the U-19 category final.

Aifa had won the U-13 title in 2014, Under-15 title in 2016 and U-17 title in 2018.

Another national junior player, joint 5/8th seed Ishant Shah, suffered a similar fate, losing 4-11, 2-11, 2-11 to top seed Sam Todd of England in the Boys U-17 category.

World squash powerhouse Egypt continued their domination by sweeping six other titles -- Boys U-11, Boys and Girls U-13, Girls U-15, Girls U-17 and Boys U-19.