PETALING JAYA: National squash player Doyce Lee (pic) gave it her all in the final of the Hong Kong Challenge Cup even with an injury, but she came up short.
Still, Doyce was proud of her performance.
The unseeded 17-year-old’s trailblazing journey in the tournament ended with a 8-11, 5-11, 1-11 defeat to fifth seed Kirstie Wong of Hong Kong yesterday.
The Sabah player has had a shin splint since the start of the tournament, but stayed on course to make it to the end.
What made it even more special for Doyce is that it was her first tournament this year, after being away from the competition scene for seven months.
“I gave my best on court even though I had a shin splint since the first round, but I still managed to push through until the final,” said Doyce.
“I’m really happy with that, especially since it’s my first tournament in seven months and it’s also my first tournament of the year.’’
It was also Doyce’s first Professional Squash Association (PSA) tournament final appearance, and she made her mark on the way to the final by taking down higher-ranked players.
Doyce, ranked No. 342 had beaten sixth seed Anjali Semwal of India 7-11, 11-9, 8-11, 12-10, 11-8 in the semi-finals on Thursday, after winning against No. 285 Fereshteh Eghtedari of Iran in the quarter-finals in straight sets (11-7, 11-4, 11-9).
She had also won in straight sets against eighth seed Kwai Chi Liu of Macau (11-3, 11-6, 11-7) in the second round.
Doyce will next head to Japan for the Yokohama Open from April 9-13, and she will be working on herself in hopes of clinching the title there.
“I’m definitely going to train harder, focus on what I need to improve for the tournament, and aim for a higher result,” she said.
