Malaysian Lee Jia Qi Andrea plays againts Satomi Watanabe in action during their girls under-U19 Semifinal match in the Squash 23rd Asian Junior Individual Championship at Bukit Jalil.Satomi won 11-7 11-6AZHAR MAHFOF/The Star (23/9/2016)
PETALING JAYA: Youngsters Ng Eain Yow and Andrea Lee (pic) came up short in the semi-finals of the NZ International Classic squash championships.
The 19-year-old Eain Yow, who took the scalp of top seed Peter Creed of Wales in the quarter-finals, went down 11-7, 4-11, 4-11, 5-11 to fourth seed Mahesh Mangaokar of India in the men’s semi-finals at Palmerston North yesterday.
The world No. 88 hit the ground running to take the first set 11-7 against world No. 79 Mahesh.
The 23-year-old Mahesh then stepped up a gear and Eain Yow, who appeared to be physically drained, succumbed after 48 minutes.
“It’s definitely disappointing and frustrating to go out like this,” said reigning world junior champion Eain Yow.
“I didn’t do much wrong, but Mahesh played really well. The quarter-final match took a lot out of me.”
Mahesh, who is gunning for his first title of the year, will meet third seed Greg Lobban of Scotland in the final.
In women’s event, 18-year-old Andrea was left kicking herself after losing 11-9, 11-13, 4-11, 12-10, 10-12 to Scotland’s Lisa Aitken.
In a battle between left-handers, world No. 88 Andrea fought back valiantly from 1-7 down in the fourth to force a deciding rubber.
Despite holding match-ball at 10-9 in the fifth, the KL girl took her eyes off the ball to allow the 27-year-old Aitken to fight back and take the match after 61 minutes.
“It’s such a waste. I’m disappointed that my shots didn’t work,” lamented Andrea.
“The same thing happened to me at the Hong Kong Challenge Cup in March, when I also had match point.
“This is something I need to learn from. Hopefully, it doesn’t happen again.”
Aitken will face Australia’s Emma Millar, who defeated the Philippines’ Jemyca Aribado 14-12, 2-11, 11-5, 11-3, for the title.
SEMI-FINALS RESULTS
Men: Mahesh Mangaokar (Ind) bt Ng Eain Yow (Mas) 7-11, 11-4, 11-4, 11-5; Greg Lobban (Sco) bt Angus Gillams (Eng) 11-5, 11-1, 11-6.
Women: Lisa Aitken (Sco) bt Andrea Lee (Mas) 9-11, 13-11, 11-4, 10-12, 12-10; Emma Millar (Aus) bt Jemyca Aribado (Phi) 14-12, 2-11, 11-5, 11-3.
