26-Aug, Day FOUR:
Four Bronzes for Iran
Andrew Cross reports
 Day
four ended with the hosts finishing with four bronze medals
after all of their players were defeated in the semi-finals
of the Asian Junior Championships, Tehran, Iran.
In the boys under 13s the top two seeds will contest the
finals tomorrow with both semi-finals being close. Top seed
Navaneeth Prabhu was the first to end the hopes of the
locals when he defeated Danial Gharooni in four very tough
games. Daniel cheered on by a very vocal home crowd won the
opening game but Navaneeth won the second on a tie break.
 The
local crowd was backing Daniel on every point he won but he
couldn’t quite close out games three and four as the Indian
progresses to the final. Amir Amirul the second seed won the
opening game 11.4 against Au Lap Man and lead in the second
before losing it 11.9. Amirul wasn’t going to throw away
games three and four and his slightly more aggressive style
helped him through to tomorrow’s final.
The boys under 17 semi-finals were next on court with top
seed Mohd Alsarraj surviving another tough five set match
against Alireza Shameli. Alireza lead by two games to one
but Mohd fought back to steal the fourth game 11.9 and then
again he just sneaked the fifth 11.9. In the other
semi-final Chan Wui Ki defeated Ong Sai Hung in four games.
Wui Ki played well to retrieve as much as he did just
waiting for Ong to hit a winner or an error.
 In
the under 19 semi-finals top seed Ng Eain Yow was too strong
for Hong Kong’s Ling To Yu in the first semi-final on the
glass court. In the second semi-final Israr Ahmed defeated
Sajad Zareian also in three games but this was a lot closer.
Sajad again cheered on by a very local crowd as well as
being streamed live on TV was pumped up looking for a big
win and it looked like he would win the opening game when he
lead 10.7 but Israr fought back to win it 12.10. From the
second game on Sajad kept trying as hard as possible and he
never gave up but in the end Israr was a little bit too
strong.
 In
the under 15s age group the top two seeds will meet each
other in the finals and both are from Malaysia. Siow Yee
Xian ended the homes hopes when he defeated a tired looking
M. Jafarzadeh but to his credit the Iranian never stopped
running until he was collapsed on the floor at the end of
the three games.
Hafiz Zhafri booked his final spot with a victory over
Indian Tushar Shahani in a match which was a repeat of the
Pioneer cup final a couple of weeks ago. Hafiz seemed to
settle a little bit quicker taking the opening to games
playing with good height and variation. The third game was a
little bit faster and Tushar took it and it looked like we
were on for a fifth when the Indian lead 7.1 but Hafiz
fought back and took the game 11.9.
In the girls under 19s matches Andrea Lee and Choi Uen Shan
will do battle again after both winning their semi-final
matches. Andrea defeated Harshit Kaur of India in four games
with Choi only needing three games to defeat Nazihah Hanis.
The under 17s final will be between two long two long-time
rivals in Zoe Foo and Sivasangari Subramaium. Both
Malaysians needed four games to see off their respective
opponents. Foo defeated Hong Kong’s Cheng Nga Ching with
Sangari defeated Nikita Joshi.
The girls under 15 final will be a repeat of the Hong Kong
Junior Open final from last week after Aifa Azman and Lui
Hui Lam beat their Malaysian opponents. Aifa beat team mate
Ooi Kah Yan in three games where as Lui was pushed a little
bit more by Chan Yiwen having lost the opening game Lui
fought back to win the next three.
In the under 13s Kiroshanna Manoharan defeated top seed
Megha Bhatia in four games. Having lost a tight opening game
Kiro came back to win the next three games. Her opponent in
tomorrow’s final will be team mate Wong Heng Wai after she
continued her giant killing to defeat third seed Fung Ching
Hei.
25-Aug, Day THREE
Home medals guaranteed
Andrew Cross reports
 Day
three of the Asian Junior Championships in Tehran saw the
host guarantee themselves four medals but the colours will
be decided tomorrow.
In the under 13s age group Top seed Navaneeth Prabhu needed
four games to defeat K.J Albatayneh of Jordan. Local Daniel
Gharooni sealed the first medal for his country when he
defeated A.R Ibrahim Alsaraj of Jordan in three games.
Au Lap Man denied the hosts another player in the semi-final
when he defeated Pouya Shafeirad in three games.
The last quarter final was brutal between Amir Amirul of
Malaysia and Neel Joshi from India both players exchanging
the opening games 11.7. The third game was tense Amirul
looked to have won it with an easy volley in the middle of
the court at game ball but he completely mistimed his swing
missing the ball. Neel then claimed the game 14.12. The
fourth went the distance as well with Amirul just winning it
on a tie break. In the fifth it was close but Amirul got to
10.7 match ball up before he hot three tins in a row to keep
Neel in the match unfortunately Neel tinned the next two to
give the match to Amirul.
In the boys under 15s age group Top seed Siow Yee Xian
cruised through despite a small blip in the third game to
defeat Rahul Baitha in four games.
In the next quarter final it was M. Jafarzadeh that secured
the hosts their second medal when he defeated Wong King
Yeung in five tough games. Wong won the first game 11.1 as
the home crowd went into silence but then every point he won
received a loud cheer which seemed to inspire his
performance and he got into the match and he took the second
game. He then lost the third but came back to win the
fourth, the fifth was close all the way but the local player
just held on to win 11.8 which brought huge cheers from the
big crowd that had gathered outside the court.
Tushar Shahani and Hafiz Zhafri set up another match but in
contrasting styles. Tushar needed an 11.9 in the fifth to
defeat team mate Saksham Choudhray in 65 minutes whereas
Hafiz needed 14 minutes to see off Amir Parsa Rastegar.
In the under 17s Alireza Shameli played well to defeat
Ibrahim Abulaban from Jordan in three games again cheered on
by huge vocal support. Alireza will take on top seed Mohd.
Alsarraj after he eased through today. Hong Kong’s Chan Wui
Ki defetead team mate Matthew Lai in four games. Second seed
Ong Sai Hung needed four games to see off a tough opponent
in Adhitya Raghavan.
In the boys under 19s top seed Ng Eain Yow wasted little
time seeing off Mudit Pant in 18 minutes. Ling To Yu upset
the seedings to defeat Velavan Senthilkumar in five tough
games. Ling won the opening two games before Velavan fought
back to level the match but it was Ling who was standing
stronger at the end. Sajad Zareian completed the happy day
for the hosts when he defeated his team mate Farzan
Harbibpour in three games and has the chance to make it to
the final if he can defeat second seed Israr Ahmed in
tomorrow’s semi-final.
There were a lot of happy Iranians walking around the squash
centre today and none more so than Masoud Ziaeddini and
Mohammed Hosein Sanei who told me that since the Malaysian
Junior Open they had got the players doing three sessions a
day in the build up to this event to try and get the players
ready. Today they must be two very happy and proud guys to
see all their hard work and sacrifices paying off.
In the girls events there was only a couple of upsets both
unfortunately for the hosts ended their hopes for a first
girl’s medal in the championships. Wong Heng Wai defeated
Satayesh Pezeshki in three games. The other medal for the
host was lost when Sogol Samoodi was beaten by Harshit Kaur
15-13 in the deciding fifth game.
The vast majority of the girls matches went the way of the
seeding’s with the biggest upset almost coming in the under
17s when second seed Sivasangari Subramanium needed five
games to defeat Akanksha Salunke. Nikita Joshi did create an
upset in the age group defeating Ho Ka Wing of Hong Kong who
has been sick the last couple of days.
Tomorrow matches for boys under 15s and 19s will move to the
glass court which looks to be set in an amazing venue.
24-Aug, Day TWO:
Down to the Quarter-Finals
Andrew Cross reports
 Day
two at the Asian Junior Individual championships saw a
mixture of matches as the hosts are still in the hunt for
their first ever medal.
In the boys under 15 all the seeds made it through to
the quarter finals but there were a couple of tough matches.
M. Jafarzadeh cheered on by a large home support needed 42
minutes and four games to defeat Cheng Hao Chen of Hong
Kong.
Hafiz Zhafri and Veer Chotrani played out a very interesting
game in the boys under 15s last 16, this match was a final
years ago and today it was a first round. Veer won the
opening game on a tie break before Hafiz fought back to win
the second on a tie break. Hafiz got a lead in the second
before he let it slip and then regained it to win 11.8. In
the fourth the Malaysian started well leading before Veer
fought back. Hafiz lead 10.8 but Veer wasn’t done yet
levelling at 10.10 eventually Hafiz squeezed it out 12.10.
In the boys under 13s A.R Ibrahim Alsarraj created
the only upset when he defeated local Amir Hossein Sadegh
Khani in three games. Fourth seed Au Lap Man was lucky
enough to sneak through in five games against Jaafar ferman
Hassan of Iraq.
Boys under 17s saw the top two seeds pushed to the
limits and both of them almost out of the event. Mohd.
Alsarraj found himself 9.6 down and match ball down to Abhay
Singh but eventually Alsarraj won 16.14 in the fifth game.
In the Lower part of the draw second seed Ong Sai Hung found
himself two love down before he got himself back into the
match to level at two games all. However Ong handed it back
to Vikas Mehra and gifted him a 6.1 lead in the fifth before
fighting back.
Vikas was a couple of centimetres from winning the match
when two of his volleys clipped the top of the tin having
lead 10.8 to allow Ong to level at 10.10. Ong didn’t give
any more chances after this winning the next two points.
Iran’s Alireza Shameli rose to the occasion to see off
Shamil Wakeel from Sri Lanka in three games. Next he takes
on last year’s boys under 15 champion Ibrahim Abulaban from
Jordan after he defeated Robin Mann of India in three games.
In the boys under 19 Iran guaranteed themselves at
least a bronze as Sajad Zareian and Farzan Habibpour will
face off tomorrow in the boys under 19 quarter final.
In the girls age groups all of the seeds made it
through to the quarter finals with only a couple of matches
being extended in the girls under 17s age group.
Second seed Sivasangari Subramanium lost the opening game
before coming back to defeat Sunayna Kuruvilla of India.
Another Indian Nikita Joshi needed forty minutes and four
games to defeat local AileeNayeri.
Tomorrow’s matches are expected to get a lot tougher in all
the competitions and it promises to be another good
atmosphere as the locals stay in the hunt for medals.
23-Aug, Day ONE:
Under way in Tehran
Andrew Cross
reports
The 22nd Asian Junior Individual Championships got underway
in Tehran, Iran today with the hosts looking to finish on
the medal podium for the first time and by the look of
things they may not be far away.
 It’s
a credit to the work of Iran squash that they have managed
to get close to winning Asian Junior titles. A lot of
passion and dedication from the right people have brought
them to this stage, they have hosted this event now the
third time in the last four years and it has shown their
players a lot of top quality squash over the past couple of
years.
They have started to
expose their players as well by venturing out to
international events which is helping grow the number of
players playing squash within Iran.
Each age group here has 6 Iranians showing that squash is
growing here and with the country opening back up to the
outside world who knows the potential that could be here.
 Masoud
Soleimani President of Iran squash federation deserves a lot
a credit, along with Alireza Sanaei, Head coach of Iran
Squash National Teams and Championship Director, and their
team have done a tremendous job in getting all these people
here and organising a lot of people to be here.
The opening ceremony was held this evening in the Esteghlal
Hotel which is also the hotel venue which showed off some of
Iran’s traditional dances and culture. All the countries
were in attendance with everyone having a lot of fun and
enjoying Iran’s fantastic food.
In today’s matches second seed Choi Uen Shan got her
campaign off to a good start when she defeated Rayhaneh
Hashemi in three games.
Fourth seed Sogol Samodi secured her quarter final spot with
a win over Salgado Tiyara from Sri Lanka. Sogol will have a
tough match on Monday though against Harshit Kaur of India
who received a walkover today.
In the boys under 15 there was a tough morning match when
local player Sam Rostamnejad almost defeated Wood Dewmina of
Sri Lanka. Sam won the opening game before Wood fought back
to level the score at one game all. Sam then came back and
won the third before losing a fourth in the tie break 14.12
and with the momentum on his side Wood went onto win the
fifth game.
Tomorrow as all of the players are in action it should be a
busy day with some tough matches.
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DRAWS:
note: for updated draws change
the (1) to (5)
B19
B17
B15
B13
G19
G17
G15
G13
All draws in one
Official Site
from Tehran
Asian Squash Event Info
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