Sarawak squash trio among top 3 Asian juniors

KUCHING (July 3): The four Sarawakians in the national team were commended for their performance at the 31st Asian Junior lndividual Squash Championships in Islamabad, Pakistan which ended last Saturday.

They contributed one silver and two bronzes to Malaysia’s total medal haul of three golds, two silvers and nine bronzes.

Harith Danial Jefri made it to the Boys U19 final only to lose 5-11, 10-12, 9-11 to Hamza Khan of Pakistan who was the 2023 world junior champion.

“The score was really close and he did not make it easy at all for his opponent as he was actually leading during the second and third sets but just couldn’t close it out,” said national coach Jess Tay who is also from Sarawak.

He believes the tournament serves as good preparation for Danial in the upcoming World Junior Squash Championships.

Jess was also pleased with Whitney Isabelle Wilson who picked up the bronze as a losing semi-finalist in the Girls U17.

“She had a good win against Cheung Tsz Ching of Hong Kong (in the quarterfinals) but was a bit unfortunate during the semi-final against Helen Tang of Hong Kong, going down fighting 6-11, 11-8, 6-11, 13-15,” the coach revealed.

He is confident Whitney “will bring her A game” to the World Junior Championships to be held in the US.

Altamis Aqhar Sallam A Sufian also performed well to reach the semi-finals but lost 4-11, 12-14, 6-11 to top seed Abdullah Nawaz of Pakistan. He will join Danial and Whitney at the World Junior tournament.

A fourth Sarawakian, Wayne Isaac Wilson, who was making his debut in the Asian junior tournament, cleared the first round in the Boys U13 but fell 4-11, 4-11, 4-11 to eighth seed M Mamoon Khan of Pakistan in the second round.