Sivasangari makes solid start in World Juniors

PETALING JAYA: Rising squash star S. Sivasangari delivered a solid performance to get past the first round of the Women’s World Junior Cham­pionships in Wroclaw, Poland.

The 14-year-old Sivasangari, competing in her first world juniors, was too strong for France’s Julie Rossignol, winning 11-6, 8-11, 11-5, 11-4 in just 23 minutes on Tuesday.

The Kedah player, however, faces a tougher task in the second round as she’ll be up against joint 13th-16th seed Lakshya Ragavendran of India.

“I think I played pretty well ... it wasn’t too tough. The only thing I’m not happy with is that I probably made too many mistakes in the second set,” said Sivasangari when contacted.

“But I’m still feeling pumped up because this is such a valuable playing experience, with so many top players here. Hopefully, I’ll learn a thing or two from this competition.”

Four other Malaysians - Vanessa Raj, Rachel Arnold, Celine Yeap and self-funded Yong Sue Ann received first round byes.

Top junior Rachel has the toughest second round match of the quartet, as she will be up against a dangerous Choi Uen Shan of Hong Kong, who is also the Asian Junior Under-17 champion.

“It’s definitely a tough first match for me as Uen Shan is a very good player. But I’ve beaten her once this year already, in the Asian Junior Teams championship in South Korea back in February. Hopefully, I’ll continue to play well,” said Rachel.