Aira cruises into BJO semi-finals

PETALING JAYA: National junior squash player Aira Azman will be out to bury the past after she stormed into the Under-17 semi-finals of the British Junior Open (BJO) in Birmingham.

The 15-year-old had no problems after she took out Egypt’s Malak Khafagy 11-8,11-5,11-7 in the quarter-finals yesterday.

Aira is now hoping to do one better after losing to Egypt’s Salma El Tayeb 8-11,11-9,11-7,13-15,7-11 in a thrilling Under-15 final last year.

She will be hoping to put all that in the past this time around. As the top seed, Aira is also on the hunt for her second BJO title after winning the Under-15 title in 2018.

“I’m actually quite happy to be able to get this far as I was quite nervous going into this match. There have been a lot of upsets in this year’s edition, so I was a bit worried, ” said Aira.“But I reminded myself that the seedings are just numbers and that I had to stay calm to perform and thankfully it went well today.”

RESULTS

THIRD ROUND

Boys

Under-11: Jayden Oon bt Christian Dromgoole (Ire) 11-7,11-5,11-7.

Under-13: Hamdy Ehab (Egy) bt Lee Hong Wong 11-6,11-7,11-4; Archie Turnbull (Wal) bt M. Nickhileswar 11-7,11-6,11-3.

Under-15: Harith Danial Jefri bt Caleb Boy (Eng) 13-11,11-7,15-13; Low Wa Sern bt Romain Morandeau (Fra) 11-5,11-6,11-4.

Under-17: Joachim Chuah bt Mohd Azhan Khan (Eng) 7-11,11-6,11-9,11-13,11-9; Andrik Lim bt Tate Harms (Swi) 11-8,8-11,11-9,11-7; Ishant Shah Atul Kumar bt John Paul Tew (US) 10-12,11-7,11-9,11-3; Ahmed Ismail (Egy) bt Amir Amirul Azhar 14-12,10-12,11-9,11-8.

Under-19: Simon Herbert (Eng) bt Duncan Lee 11-7,11-9,2-11,11-6; Nicholas Spizzirri (US) bt Wee Ming Hock 11-9,11-4,11-7; Yahya Elnawasany (Egy) bt Danial Nurhaqiem 11-4,11-5,11-2; Karim Elbarbary (Egy) bt Nathan Kueh 11-8,11-5,11-2.

Girls

Under-11: Harleein Tan bt Hana Elmahdy (Egy) 11-8,11-6,7-11,11-5; Layla Gupta (US) bt Shirijah Jadishkumar 11-6,11-3,11-4; Farouk Mohamed (Egy) bt Haiqal Hazim Syarudin 11-3,7-11,11-3,11-7.

Under-13: K. Sehveetrraa bt Alyx Kelleher (Wal) 11-6,11-9,11-3; Barb Sameh (Egy) bt Whitney Wilson 12-10,11-1,6-11,13-11; Lauren Baltayan (Fra) bt Doyce Lee 11-7,11-7,14-12.

Under-15: Caroline Fouts (US) bt Anrie Goh 11-6,11-3,11-8; Caroline Eielson (US) bt Goh Zhi Xuan 11-4,11-2,11-7.

Under-17: Yee Xin Ying bt Asia Harris (Eng) 11-5,11-7,11-2; Aira Azman bt Lucie Stefanoni (US) 11-7,11-5,11-9.

Under-19: Noor Ainaa Amani Ampandi bt Haya Mohamed Ali 12-10,11-7,12-10; Aifa Azman bt Evie Coxon (Eng) 11-8,11-3,11-4.

FOURTH ROUND

Boys

Under-17: Ameeshenraj Chandaran bt Franklyn Smith (Eng) 14-12,4-11,11-6,11-7; Neel Joshi (Ind) bt Joachim Chuah 11-8,11-7,7-11,11-7; Ishant Shah Atul Kumar bt Andrik Lim 13-11,11-3,11-5.

QUARTER-FINALS

Girls

Under-17: Aira Azman bt Malak Khafagy (Egy) 11-8,11-5,11-7.