British Juniors: Eain Yow in final, Jessica follow suit

Malaysia's Jessica Keng has qualified for the British Junior Open girls' U-13 final after she beat Farida Mohammed in the semi-finals in Sheffield on Monday. - Filepic

PETALING JAYA: Top seed Ng Eain Yow made a strong recovery to stay on course to equal Ong Beng Hee’s record three British Junior Open squash titles by reaching the boys’ Under-17 final.

The 16-year-old, the winner of the Under-13 title in 2011 and the Under-15 crown in 2013, outplayed Egyptian Youssef Ebrahim 6-11, 11-6, 11-3, 11-4 in Monday’s semi-finals in Sheffield.

Eain Yow will face either second seed Saad El Din Ihab of Egypt or his compatriot Karim Magdy, the ninth-16th seed, for the title on Tuesday.

It will be his fourth final appearance in five years at the British Juniors.

It got even better for Malaysia as 12-year-old Jessica Keng upset the formbooks to storm into the final of the girls’ Under-13 category.

The Sabahan, a quarter-finalist in the same category last year, was on song as she dumped second seed Farida Mohammed of Egypt with an 12-10, 11-8, 11-6 win in the semi-finals.

It was a step-up in performance for Jessica after she had laboured to an 11-9, 8-11, 11-8, 11-4 win over Egypt’s Sana Mahmoud in the quarter-finals on Sunday.

Jessica, the joint third-fourth seed, will meet top seed Nouran Youssef of Egypt in the final.

“Both Jessica and Eain Yow played very well today and they are getting it together nicely,” said national junior coach Andrew Cross.

“It’s one more match tomorrow and both of them will have tough matches. They just have to do their best and we’ll see how it goes.”

The wins by Eain Yow and Jessica also overcame the disappointment of the Malaysian camp after second seed S. Sivasangari crashed out in the quarter-finals of the Under-17 category.

The 15-year-old Sivasangari, last year’s Under-15 champion, was beaten 6-11, 12-10, 9-11, 7-11 by joint ninth-16th seed Zena Mekiwy of Egypt.

“I’m really upset with myself for losing. I guess I just have to wait for another year,” said a dejected Sivasangari.

Aifa Azman also failed to clear her last eight hurdle in the Under-15 division. She was outclassed 9-11, 4-11, 7-11 by second seed Rawan Reda of Egypt.