PETALING JAYA, Feb 4 — After yesterday’s upset by Jordan, Malaysia’s boys team came out all guns blazing to beat hosts Hong Kong and book a place in the semifinals of the Asian Junior Team Squash Championships.
Ong Sai Hung got the ball rolling with a 11-7, 12-10, 11-8 win over Matthew Nam, and Darren Rahul Pragasam added the winning point after he defeated Lincoln Chan Wui Ki 11-6, 11-7, 8-11, 13-11.
Despite having the win in the bag, Farez Izwan and Chan Chi Ho played an epic third singles with Farez eventually winning 8-11, 6-11, 11-4, 11-4, 13-11 for a clean sweep.
The boys played amicably and overcame the hostile crowd to move top of Group B while Hong Kong finished second.
That sets up a semifinal clash against fourth seeds Pakistan today, while the girls led by S. Sivasangari, Andrea Lee Jia Qi, Zoe Foo Yuk Han and Aifa Azman will face Japan after they annihilated all their opponents in the group stages by 3-0.
“The boys were awesome as they proved they wanted to win and came back playing superbly after yesterday’s loss,” said coach Ong Beng Hee.
“We’re very proud of them. Massive credit to Farez. As the captain, he got the team together and gave us an incredible performance, leaving us top of the group,” added the former world No 7.
