Finland's former world junior champion Juha Raumolin was among the first-round casualties on the first day of qualifying in the Cathay Pacific Hong Kong Open at the Hong Kong Squash Centre yesterday.
Raumolin, who won the world junior title in Hong Kong four years ago at the same venue, was expected to reach the second round as one of the up-and-coming young players on the circuit.
But the Finn, who has climbed to 44th in the world, failed to match Sweden's Anders Thoren, the world number 57 who carved out a 15-6, 10-15, 15-13, 15-8 victory.
Ironically, Canada's Jonathon Power, Raumolin's victim at the 1992 World Junior Championship final, has gone on to bigger and better things and has steadily worked his way up the ranking list where he is now the world number 17. He plays in the main draw tomorrow.
Meanwhile, Hong Kong players experienced mixed fortunes on the first day of qualifying where eight men will go through to the main draw.
Yan Tsz-keung, 19, beat Gary Clark of England 17-16, 15-13, 15-13 to take a step closer to qualifying. Yan was expected to win though as he is ranked eight places higher than Clark, the 245th-ranked player.
