Mind over matter for young Zoe

KUALA LUMPUR: She’s young and she’s hungry. 

But there’s one thing slowing down 16-year-old squash player The good thing is that Zoe is aware of her weakness – and has taken steps to overcome it.

The Form Four student of the Bukit Jalil Sports School (BJSS) has been working with French mental trainer Michel Gagne for the last six months – and she is slowly seeing signs of improvement.

“Inconsistency has been a bane for me in the last few years. And that has stopped me from winning titles.

“But I’m glad I got to work with Michel, who has helped me slowly improve my mental strength.

“I need to work longer with Michel to further improve on my mental strength, though,” said Zoe after booking her spot in the girls’ Under-19 semi-finals of the at the National Squash Centre in Bukit Jalil yesterday.

The joint third-fourth seed Zoe, who disposed of Siti Azatul Ain Mohd Zulkefli 11-1, 11-1, 11-1 in the first round, had to dig deep into her reserves to overcome Australia’s Lakeesha Rarere 11-8, 9-11, 11-5, 13-11 in the quarter-finals.

Zoe will need to be at her best – physically and mentally – in the semi-finals as she will be up against top seed Chai Uen Shan of Hong Kong.

Uen Shan, who received a first-round bye, had no problems eliminating Malaysia’s Celine Yeap 11-3, 11-3, 11-9 in the quarter-finals.

Zoe, who will feature in the Under-17 category of the Pontefract Junior Open in Scotland from Dec 27-30, said that she had never played against Uen Shan.

“I hope to be mentally strong to upset the Hong Kong player,” said Zoe, who will also compete in the Under-17 category of the British Junior Open in Sheffield from Jan 2-6.

The other semi-final will pit Malaysia’s Andrea Lee, the second seed, against Sri Lanka’s Samoodi Sogol.