Ainaa’s scared and excited about joining seniors
PETALING JAYA: National junior squash player Noor Ainaa Amani Ampandi is having mixed feelings about turning senior next year.
While Ainaa knows she needs to work harder to match the seniors, she can’t help feeling excited about the prospect.
“I am excited but I am also scared at the same time as I have to do better from now,” she said.
Just like many players still under junior category, Ainaa already has had a taste of what it feels like to come up against seniors in the Professional Squash Association (PSA) tournaments. In her first senior outing abroad – the Indian Squash Tour in Jaipur, India – she fell in the second round to teammate Lai Wen Li.
“I started playing in the Malaysian Tour when I was 15. My first senior tournament overseas was in Jaipur just this year. Playing in both junior and senior level tournaments has been a bit stressful for me as the competitions have been back-to-back but all went well since I got to experience different types of matches,” explained Ainaa.
For someone who has been busy competing in many tournaments, Ainaa has been left disappointed by the postponement of all tournaments due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
“I was supposed to compete in several PSA tournaments in Hong Kong, Pakistan and Bukit Jalil but all have been called off. I feel sad and frustrated about this,” lamented the 18-year old.
Ainaa, who is now at home in Rawang and training on her own, said she was continuing with a training programme given by coach, Kenny Foo. The programme consists of core workouts and is geared towards strength and fitness.
She is also thankful to her coach for his unwavering support through this tough period.
The 18-year-old is now determined to keep herself in shape and come back stronger. She already has several targets in mind.
“I hope to end my junior career on a high note by winning as many titles as possible. I hope to break into the top 100 in the PSA rankings,” said a pumpedup Ainaa.
She is currently ranked 164th in the world and already has one title under her belt this year, the National Junior Championships that she captured in Bukit Jalil for the first time in February.
Despite feeling overjoyed after the triumph, Ainaa is still hungry for more major honours like the Asian Junior Championships.
But she has to wait for the chance to achieve her ambition. The Asian championships, scheduled for Jun 29-July 3 in Qingdao, China, has been postponed.
Like the rest of the squash fraternity, Ainaa is keeping her fingers crossed that the situation improves soon, so she can get back to her usual order of business and join the seniors.