Monday June 20, 2011
By KNG ZHENG GUAN
PETALING JAYA: Top national junior Tan Yan Xin has no plans yet to turn pro, preferring instead to focus on the Asian Junior individual squash championships which begins tomorrow at Amman, Jordan in her last year as a junior player.
The sweet City lass who turned 18 last week will also participate in the World Junior Championship at Cairo, Egypt next month from July 20-30 and these two major tournaments are her main priority for now.
“The thought of turning pro did cross my mind before but at the moment I just want to focus on the Asian Juniors and do well enough to reach the final,” said Yan Xin.
“There is also the World Juniors next month and I will assess my future after that. If my performances are encouraging then I may turn pro.”
Yan Xin however is on good run of form at the moment and is well poised to finally nail the Under-19 title in her third Asian Juniors appearance having crashed out in the quarter-finals last year and the third round in 2009.
In the Milo All Star Junior Open held earlier this month, Yan Xin did remarkably well to reach the semi-finals, dumping top seeded Tong Tsz Wing of Hong Kong along the way and she was also runners-up at the Penang Junior Open which ended last week. And that recent string of good performances has certainly boosted her confidence ahead of the Asian meet.
“It was a morale boost indeed because I have never beaten Tsz Wing before and this will also give me the mental edge over her in the Asian Juniors.”
“I was not so confident about my chances previously but now I think I stand a better chance and with the hard work I’ve put in lately, I really want to win,” said Yan Xin.
The second seeded Yan Xin who is Malaysia’s sole representative in the Under-19 category received a bye in the first round and will play Singapore’s Sherilyn Yang in the second round tomorrow.
If she wins, she is expected to face joint fifth-eighth seed Mayu Yamazaki of Japan in the quarter-final while a possible clash against third-fourth seed Anaka Alankamony of India in the semi-finals awaits.
Tsz Wing is once again the top seed and is in the other half of the draw.
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