PETALING JAYA: Mohd Farez Izwan is excited to finally make his debut at the World Junior Squash Championships, which starts in Bielsko-Biala, Poland, from Aug 6-17.
The Sabahan, who turned 18 last month, has won the Asian Junior Under-13 (2011) and Under-15 (2013) titles.
A chance to make his mark at the world juniors eluded him after he pulled out from the squad in Namibia two years ago following concerns about the Ebola outbreak then.
Instead, Ong Sai Hung joined Ng Eain Yow, Mohd Syafiq Kamal and Darren Chan and the team reached the semi-finals for only the second time since the tournament’s inception in 1973. The last time Malaysia made the semi-finals was in 2006 in New Zealand.
Farez is, however, back on track after helping Malaysia win the Asian Junior Team Championships and the Commonwealth Youth Games (CYG) doubles gold medal last year.
“I’m really looking forward to the world juniors,” said Farez.
“I’ve been playing well since I started training full time this year ... I’m also pleased with my progress so far.”
Farez has shown improvement after coming through the qualifiers to reach the quarter-finals of the Contrex Challenge Cup in Hong Kong last month.
Now in his final year as a junior, Farez is eager to make up for lost time.
“Hopefully, this will be the year that I make my breakthrough,” he said.
Farez, who is unseeded in Poland, received a first round walkover after his opponent – homester Piotr Hemmerling – withdrew. He will now meet Asian Junior Under-19 champion Israr Ahmed of Pakistan in the second round.
The others in the boys’ team are three-time British Junior Open winner Eain Yow, Sai Hung and Marcus Sim.
Eain Yow is the tournament’s second seed and he is looking to end Malaysia’s 18-year drought at the world juniors.
The now-retired Ong Beng Hee defeated Egypt’s Wael El Hindi to win the title in 1998.
The Malaysian girls’ challenge is led by S. Sivasangari, Andrea Lee, Zoe Foo and Aifa Azman.
They will be seeking to emulate the feat achieved by Nicol David, who won in 1999 and 2001.
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