Friday June 24, 2011
By KNG ZHENG GUAN
PETALING JAYA: National junior Yong Sue Ann drew the biggest cheer when she tore the formbooks to shreds en route to qualifying for the girls’ Under-17 semi-finals of the Asian Junior individual squash championships in Amman, Jordan, yesterday.
Nothing much was expected of the petite 15-year-old Sue Ann as she was up against second seed Ho Tze Lok of Hong Kong – a player she has never beaten before.
In fact, Sue Ann was staring at defeat after losing two of the first three sets. Instead, she rolled up her sleeves and fought back strongly in fourth and fifth sets to win 12-10, 5-11, 8-11, 11-4, 13-11.
National coach Raymond Arnold was pleased with her efforts considering “that Tze Lok is an older and more experienced player”.
“Sue Ann could have won the third set and made things easier but she was tired and made mistakes,” Raymond said in a telephone interview from Amman.
“But I was both pleased and surprised at how strongly she came back in the fourth set. The fifth was anybody’s game and I’m glad she came out tops.”
Sue Ann will now face joint third-fourth seed Saumya Karki of India for a spot in the final.
Saumya had earlier ended the run of another national junior, Rachel Arnold, with a convincing 11-9, 12-10, 11-7 victory.
It was business as usual for S. Sivasangari, Andrea Lee and Zoe Foo when they cruised into the Under-13 semi-finals.
Top-seed Sivasangari overcame a first set loss to overcome India’s Aishwarya Bhattacharya 6-11, 11-7, 11-2, 11-3 and will face Zoe in the semi-finals.
Andrea will take on joint fifth-eighth seed Satomi Watanabe, who upset third-fourth seed Ho Ka Wing 14-12, 11-2, 11-4. in the other semi-final.
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