Vanessa, Rachel and Celine crash out of World Juniors

PETALING JAYA: It was a disappointing end for the national squash players as the trio of Rachel Arnold, Vanessa Raj and Celine Yeap crashed out in the third round of the Women’s World Junior Championships at the Hasta La Vista squash complex in Wroclaw, Poland.

Worst, it was particularly disappointing for Rachel and Vanessa, who lost to lower ranked players.

A day after registering a good win over Hong Kong’s Choi Uen Shan in the second round, Rachel crumbled under pressure as she blew a two-set lead to lose 11-9, 11-6, 6-11, 5-11, 5-11 to American Maria Elena Ubina on Thursday.

Penangite Vanessa fared just as bad, failing to build on a one-set advantage to lose 11-5, 12-14, 8-11, 2-11 to England’s Anna Kimberley.

Celine, also of Penang who was also in fine form in the earlier rounds, gave joint fifth-eighth seed Victoria Temple-Murray of England a good fight before succumbing 8-11, 7-11, 9-11 in 32 minutes.

“Bad day for Malaysia as all our girls lost,” said national coach Raymond Arnold.

“Rachel won many winners at the start and took the first two sets. Her opponent, however, read her game and picked up her front shots well to punish her with some nice counter drops.

“She was also caught off guard by the American girl’s accurate boasts and could not change her game, which saw her losing in five.

“Vanessa, on the other hand, lost the deciding second after a neck-and-neck battle. It was a 30-minute set and after that she looked really tired and was always trailing.

“Celine lost the No. 1 English player. It was a tight match but Celine made a few errors and lost out in three.”