PETALING JAYA, Aug 13 — Rio took a backseat yesterday for Malaysia after 18-year-old squash player Ng Eain Yow stunned Egyptian top seed Saadeldin Abouaish as he emulated Ong Beng Hee in becoming world junior champion in Poland.
This is impressive. We could easily count it as gold if the young man was in Rio.
The second seed won 11-3, 9-11, 11-7, 11-5 in 54 minutes.
Eain Yow ended Malaysia’s 18-year wait for a boy’s gold medal at World Junior Squash Championships.
His father, Ng Hong Yuen, described his son as “perfect”.
“Any parent cannot ask for more,” Hong Yuen said.
“He is fantastic in school and very curious to learn, he is friendly ... he is just fantastic. Those who know him have only good things to say about him.”
Eain Yow was exposed to the sport at the age of five and started training properly two years later.
“At that time, it was a platform to get him outdoors instead of spending time on the computer. When he won the 2011 British Junior Open, that’s when he knew squash was his future.”
Here is how the final panned out.
- Eain Yow started well but the top seed took the second set.
- Kept upper hand with his inventive play to win third set.
- Built a lead at the start of fourth which Abouaish could not close down.
- Win sealed when Egyptian’s drop shot hit the tin on the first match ball.
“It’s unbelievable. It’s like a dream,” Eain Yow told squashsite.co.uk.
“This is what I aimed for when I started playing squash.”
His coach Andrew Cross said: “He was superb. He got it tactically right.”
Look what Nicol David has done for Malaysian squash.
