#ajsquash20 – Day 1

The first day of the Asian Junior Champs in Amman, and we’re down to the quarters …

Maj S Manian reports

The event is being held at the El-Hussein International Squash Centre in the Al-Hussein Sport City. There are 5 glass-back courts and one three sided glass court with a seating capacity of 500. Jordan squash had left no stone unturned to ensure a grand start to the event. Matches started at 9a.m and went on till 8p.m. With a couple of hours lunch break, participants savoured the famous shawarma at the temporary café set-up adjacent to the centre.

The very impressive online updated scores are available on jordansquash.com

All the main seeded players breezed through to the next round although three 5-8 seeds were beaten by unseeded players.

Boys Under 19

Although the event started this morning the seeded players don’t get into action until tomorrow. The top seed and home favourite Ahmad Al Sarraj takes on Korean Young Ko-Jo, whilst the second seed Syed Ali Bokhari from Pakistan will play Holpitige Ravindu the unseeded Sri Lankan who upset Saif Al Braikat (Kuwait) the 5-8 seed in the 2 nd round.

Girls Under 19

Similarly the U19 girls event got underway, but the main seeded players see action only tomorrow. Defending champion Anaka Alankamony of India will play Mi-Jin Kim (Korea) whilst the second seed Ho Ka Po of Hong Kong will play Naduni Gunawardene (Sri Lanka) in the 2 nd round

Boys Under 17

Seeds play tomorrow. Malaysia’s top seed Mohd. Syafiq Kamal will take on Brandon Tan (S’pore) and the 2 nd seed also from Malaysia Eain Yeow will play Mudit Pant (9/16 seed) in the 2 nd round.

Girls Under 17

Top seed Choi Uen Shan of Hong Kong easily overcame Shahad Ismeli of Jordan this morning and will play Iranian Sogol Samoodi (5/8 seed). The 2 nd seed also had an easy run against Michelle Tay (S’pore) and will play Hong Kong’s Lam Wing Hei the 5/8 seed in the quarters.

Boys Under 15

This morning, Malaysian Mohd.Farez Izwan the top seed beat Lam Yat Ting (HK) and in the quarter finals will play Ibrahim Abulaban(Kuwait) who upset the 5-8 seed Ming An Lee of S’pore 3-1. Meanwhile 2 nd seed Jordanian Mohd Alsarraj beat countryman Abdelkader Jeitan and in the quarters will now take on the 5-8 seed Ali Reza Shameli (Irn) who had a good hard fought victory over Aditya Raghavan (Ind).

Girls Under 15

Top seed Sivasangari (Mal) defeated Momoka of Japan and will play another Japanese the 5-8 seed Satomi Watanabe. 2 nd seed Andrea Jia of Malaysia will take on Aishwarya Bhattacharya (5-8 seed) in the quarters.

Boys Under 13

In the quarter finals No.1 seed Mohd Hafiz (Mal) sees action tomorrow against Druvinka Perera (SL) whilst 2 nd seed Veer Chotrani (Ind) who beat Jaafar Ferman (Irq) will play Rahul Baitha the unseeded Indian who upset Abdelrahman Alsarraj the 5/8 seed Jordanian

Girls Under 13

In the quarter finals top seed Aifa Azman (Mal) sees action tomorrow against Indian Samita Sivakumar (5-8 seed). 2 nd seed Lui Hui Lam beat Shaveetha Kohombange (SL) and will face Abhilasha Bhasin the 5-8 seed from India.

S.Maniamfg