Malaysians Eugene Heng Jia Li and Andrea Lee Jia Qi both managed to bounce back and emerge as the champions of the Men’s U-17 and Women’s B19 category respectively at the International Youth Squash Championships
Eugene pulled off an upset after outplaying Iranian powerhouse Alireza Shameli 8-11, 11-8, 11-2, 9-11 and 13-11 in the finals.
Andrea took on Japan’s Satomi Watanabe and claimed her ultimate title after a five-set final match 11-8, 5-11, 6-11, 11-4 and 12-10.
“When I was falling behind 6-10, I thought I was going to lose. But I thought of what my coaches (Andrew Cross and Kenneth Low) told me during the break,” she told Sinar Harian.
“It was a long match but it worked out. I always tried my best to get close to Satomi.”
Meanwhile, Eugene admitted that he had break Alireza’s rhythm to get a hold of the game.
“I had to change my playing style from time to time and dragged the game to a longer time so that he would be tired. He got frustrated and made mistakes.”
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