Half day of play today. All age categories had a day off with the exception of the Under 19 boys and girls and the Under 19 boys. However the top 4 seeds in all categories sailed through at the El-Hussein International Squash Centre in the Al-Hussein Sport City.
Boys Under 19-Quarter finals
The top seed and home favourite Ahmad Al Sarraj continues to keep the home crowd happy as he beat Bilal Zakir (Pak) 3-0 in the quarters. He was only marginally tested and the true test might be against another player from Pakistan Tayyab Aslam the 3-4 seed.
The second seed Syed Ali Bokhari beat Nizar Saleh the 5-8 seed from Kuwait and will take on Kush Kumar the 3-4 seed. Kush was in a state of shock as he found himself 2 games down against his training partner Deepak Mishra. True to his style Kush clawed his way back to win in 5.
Girls Under 19 – Quarter finals
Defending champion Anaka Alankamony of India beat Malaysian no.1 Rachael Arnold by the skin of her teeth. Rachael exuded class throughout the match, catching Anaka time and again with her aggressive drives and trickle boasts. Anaka was 2-1 down but never at any stage did she stop putting in a 100 percent effort which by the way is her forte. It was an awesome match with Anaka just scrapping through against Rachael who played equally well.
The second seed Ho Ka Po of Hong Kong had no such struggle. She simply breezed past Lakshya Ragavendran (Ind) whose famed aggression and power deserted her today. In the semis tomorrow Anaka plays Vanessa Raj who upset the 3-4 seed from Hong Kong Ho Tze Lok with a polished performance of drops and lobs. In the other semi finals Ho Ka Po will do battle with her teammate C.Pansy Pui Hei
Boys Under 17 – Quarter finals
Malaysia’s top seed Mohd. Syafiq Kamal beat 5-8 seed V.Senthilkumar (Ind) 3-1. Senthilkumar put up a gallant fight but was not enough against the extremely talented Syafiq. Syafiq will play Yuen Tsun Hei from Hong Kong who beat his compatriot Ling To Yu 3-1.
The 2 nd seed from Malaysia Eain Yeow a two-time British Junior Open Champion (U13 and U15) found himself in early trouble as he lost the first game against Sandeep Ramachandran (Ind) but calmed himself soon enough to come through in 4 games and will play compatriot Darren Chan in the semis.
S.Maniam Technical Delegate
SquashWithMe 
Leave a comment