National junior Jia Rong out to wrong-foot higher-ranked rivals at British Junior Open
KUALA LUMPUR: National junior squash player Hi Jia Rong is banking on the element of surprise at the British Junior Open in Birmingham.
The Under-15 player will be competing in his first-ever international tournament but he believes that as an unknown player, he will be the dark horse at the prestigious event from Jan 2-6 in England.
On the local squash scene, the Sarawakian has been making waves springing upsets against higher-ranked opponents to finish strongly in the last few tournaments.
In October, he finished third at the SportExcel-Milo-NSC Junior Squash Circuit (Under-15), fifth at the CIMB Grand Final (Under-17) and reached the semi-finals at the REDtone Kuala Lumpur Junior Open (Under-15) last month.
And his string of fine performances has boosted his confidence to pull off more upsets for a strong finish at the British Junior Open.
It will be his first trip to Europe. “I’m excited. I’ve dreamt of being in Europe – I’ve seen beautiful pictures, the different seasons. I’m hoping it’ll be a good exposure for me,” said Jia Rong, who is solely focused on winning the Under-15 title.
“It’ll be a tough as I haven’t played many of them, but because many of them haven’t seen me play I’ve an advantage and hopefully I can surprise many of them.
“I’ll do everything I can to win it and dive for any ball to win points.”
Jia Rong has been preparing mentally and physically for the big moment over the last four months.
“I’ve been training hard and trying to improve my skills to try and get an edge over my opponents. I’m trying to adjust to the cooler weather there too.”
Jia Rong, who received a first-round bye, faces either Welshman Nero Harms or Pakistan’s Muhammad Azlan Khawar in the second round.