Undoubtedly, our youth keep raising the bar and making waves everywhere they go.
Having said that, our Malaysian junior players recently had a solid start at the 21st Asian Junior Team Squash Championships which been held in Chennai, India.
Marking their return this year after the 2021 event was scrapped due to Covid-19, this championship will take place from the 8th to 12th February 2023.
Our brilliant Malaysian girls, who won the championship in 2019, stepped up to the plate as they easily defeated South Korea 3-0 in their Group A match in Chennai.
Led by world No. 65 player, Aira Azman, it has been said that the girls are certainly frontrunners for the title and they performed as expected on the first day.
Jadishkumar defeats Lee Sojin 11-3, 11-3, 12-10 to open their account.
Whitney Isabelle Wilson then sealed the victory when she beat Kim Minju 11-7, 11-3, 11-4 before Aira completed the rout by defeating Ain Jun 11-3, 11-3, 11-2.
Furthermore, the Malaysian boys were also unruffled as they defeated Singapore 3-0 in Group B.
To open the scoring, Low Wa Sern downed Mark Lee 11-7, 11-4, and 11-7. After that, Shamiel Haeyzad Shahrulhisam made it 2-0 by defeating Ethan Kuan 11-4, 11-7, and 11-3.
Harith Danial, a Sarawakian who serves as the team’s No. 1, defeated Ethan Chua 11-4, 11-5, and 11-3, winning the match.
Andrew Cross, the National assistant head coach expressed that he is pleased with his charges’ performances but made it clear there is still room for improvement.
“It was a good start for the boys, I thought they played well. There are some improvements to be done but it’s still a solid start for them.”
“As for the girls, it was also a good start, especially as it is a completely brand new lineup (of players). For a team playing together for the first time, I thought their chemistry was pretty good.” the coach said.
Today, the boys will play two matches against Taiwan and Japan while the girls will take on Japan
Best wishes to our talented young Malaysian athletic squad!
Source: [1]
