KUALA LUMPUR, June 30 — The Squash Racquets Association of Malaysia (SRAM) expressed satisfaction over the impressive performance from the national players at the 31st Asian Junior Individual Squash Championships in Islamabad, Pakistan, despite bringing home fewer golds compared to the last edition.
SRAM coaching director Major (Rtd) S. Maniam described the achievement in the tournament which ended yesterday as noteworthy given the increased competitiveness this year, with strong challengers from countries such as the hosts, India, Hong Kong and Japan.
“As I said, the competition is not getting easier, it’s getting tougher. The Asian teams are playing better.
“I’m happy that overall we’ve done better than all the other countries. Most importantly, all our programme players made it to the podium, I think that’s a great achievement for them,” he told Bernama.
He noted that the achievement in Pakistan indicated that Malaysia have a promising future in squash for many years to come.
Yesterday, Malaysia concluded their campaign by emerging as the best-performing team overall, with a remarkable haul of three golds, two silvers, and nine bronze medals.
Standout performers include U. Thanussa who played in the girls’ Under-19, M. Nickhileswar (boys’ U-17) and Harleein Tan (girls’ U-15), as they rose to the occasion by securing titles in their respective categories, while two other players Harith Danial Jefri (boys’ U-19) and Raziq Putra Fakhrur Razi (boy’s U-15) had to settle for silver.
In the previous edition in Dalian, China, the national team clinched five gold and three silver.
Looking ahead, Maniam hoped that the junior team will carry the momentum in Islamabad to the 2024 World Junior Squash Championships to be held in Houston, United States from July 12-23.
“This (world junior meet) is going to be tough. If we can get top eight in the team and individuals, that would be good,” he said. — Bernama
