Squash princesses sign off with victory
Hong Kong successfully defended the girls' team title at the Hoe Hin White Flower Ointment Asian Junior Squash Championships on Saturday.
The SAR, led by Joey Chan Ho-ling, defeated arch-rivals Malaysia 2-1, despite the absence of Hong Kong's number one junior player and singles champion, Annie Au Wing-chi.
Joey, also the singles runner-up, beat Malaysia's Low Wee Wern 7-9, 9-4, 9-2, 9-2, while teammate, Leung Shin-nga, edged Wee Wern's younger sister, Wee Nee, 9-3, 9-0, 7-9, 9-6. This is the last junior tournament for Joey and Annie, who turned 18 on Friday. Joey will celebrate her 19th birthday in May.
Head squash coach Tony Choi Yuk-kwan praised the girls' performance.
'The girls played very well in the tournament this year, especially Joey and Annie. It was a good ending to their junior squash careers,' Choi said.
'I am happy that the girls took the gold medal, while the boys came in the top four, as I had expected.'
In the boys' final, Pakistan beat Malaysia 2-1, while Hong Kong finished fourth.
Farhan Mehboob of Pakistan beat Malaysia's Muhammad Asyraf 9-1, 9-1, 9-4, Waqar Mehboob lost to Elvinn Keo 4-9, 9-4, 9-0, 7-9, 9-10, and Farzan Rashid crushed Choong Kam Hing 9-2, 9-4, 9-2.
Hong Kong's Leo Au Chun-ming, Fung Ji-yang and Chan Kai-chi lost to India 1-2 to settle for fourth place.
Leo beat Sandeep Jangra in five sets, while Ji-yang and Kai-chi lost to Parth Sharma and Naresh Kumar, respectively, 0-3. A total of 111 athletes from Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, Pakistan, the Philippines, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Taipei, India, Iran, Kuwait, Macau, China and Hong Kong took part in the 13th edition of the tournament.
