FINALS DAY
Andrew Cross reports
REDtone KL Junior open
ended with some spectacular finals especially the boys under
17s and girls under 19s final.
The morning started with the younger age groups and a very
competitive boys under 9 age group was won by Abdul Fahm
Bini Abdul Basir in three games with a win over Kuhen
Ravendran. In the girls under 9s it was won by Sashmini
Chandran after she defeated top seed Parmin Nekopaeian from
Iran in the final. The best thing about watching the under
9s is that it is so fair and the players play with a smile
on their face.
Sehveetrraa Kumar ended the run of Nur Maisara in the final
in three games with both of them looking promising players
for the future. Pakistans Huzaifa Ibrahim showed why he was
top seed with a three game victory over Levinesh Prakash but
a couple of the games were only won by two points.
Wong Heng Wai finally turned the tables on Kiroshanna
Manoharan after losing three major finals recently to
Kiroshanna. Heng Wai played at high intensity and never
really allowed Kiroshanna to work her way into the match.
Mohammed Amir Amirul looked in good shape before his assault
on the British Junior Open in a months time with a win over
Iranian Danial Gharouni in three games.
Jessica Keng the current British Junior Open under 13
champion wasted little time adding to her list of
achievements defeating Nurul Izzah in three games. Danial
Nurhaqiem beat his training partner Hafiz Zhafri in five
close games. The opening four games were shared with one
player dominating then the other one. In the fifth game
Danial got the better start making it hard for Hafiz to
close up the gap on him.
Aifa Azman won two tight opening games against Nur Aliah
before winning the third game comfortably. The boys under
17s match was the first of two classics. Eugene Heng
completed a good week with a 13.11 win in the fifth set
against top seed Alireza Shameli. In the fifth game both
players had chances to clinch the title but it was Eugene on
his second attempt that managed to win the title.
The next final was just as dramatic as the boys under 17s
final, in the girls under 19 event with Andrea Lee managing
to retain her title. Just as she won in a tie break in the
fifth last year it was the same this year with another tie
break win in the fifth but this time she had to come from
behind against Japans Satomi Watanabe. In the fifth game
Satomi built a lead of 10.6 and looked like she was going to
carve her name on the trophy but Andrea had other ideas
winning the next six points to retain the title.
The last final of the day was between Sajad Zareian of Iran
and Ryunosuke Tsukue of Japan, a similar story to the girls
under 17s final with the opening two games being quite tight
going the way of the Japanese player. A tired looking Sajad
now took to the court needing three games for victory but
Ryunosuke quickly established an 8.0 lead and quickly made
it 11.3.
Tournaments cant run themselves they require a lot of work
and sacrifices from a lot of people. REDtone as title
sponsors need to be thanked for their continued support over
the last couple of years. The exceptional work of the
organising committee to host 610 players on a circuit format
needs to be applauded.
All the help of the referees that sit and watch matches
endlessly making sure that the tournament runs as smoothly
as possible. The Bus drivers that have helped transport all
the players around for the last week. All the VIP’s that
came because of their love of the game and their willingness
to give up some of their time to hopefully witness the next
generation of World Class players.
Special thanks to:
REDtone, Kecana Capital, Consortium Container Lines, Sunway
Lagoon and SP Energy Sdn Bhd
Andrew Cross
Day FOUR:
Andrew Cross reports
REDtone KL Junior Open 2015 saw
all of the top four seeds progress in the under 19 age
groups all with 3.0 wins. That should set up some good
clashes for tomorrows semi finals especially on the girls
side.
Top seed Nazihah Hanis will face Sri Lanka’s Bronze
medallist from the Commonwealth Youth Games Methserani,
while in the other semi final it will see Nazihah Hanis
playing Japan’s Satomi Watanabe.
In the boys under 19s local interest was left after Alwinn
Chai and Aqif Ampandi both lost out in the quarter finals to
the top two seeds. Alwinn was defeated by top seed Sajad
Zareian and Aqif lost to Ryunosuke Tsukue both in three
games.
In the Girls under 17s the top four seeds won through to the
semi final, Aifa Azman shared the opening two games with
Chan Yiwen before upping the pace to win the next two sets.
In the next quarter final with the match at one game all
between Lai Wen Li and Ooi Kah Yan, Kah Yan twisted her
ankle in the back corner and was unable to continue the
match.
In the lower half of the draw Nur Aliah defeated Brodie Tsen
in three games and Cheng Nga Ching won the all Hong Kong
affair in three games over Tang Yan Yi.
Boys under 17s saw the top four seeds progress to the Semi
finals but in contrasting styles. Top seed Alireza Shameli
and Darren Rahul had convincing wins over their opponents.
However in the lower half of the draw Eugene Heng was taken
to four games with Siow Yee Xian but the toughest match was
between Harley Lam and Wong Peng Soon where Peng Soon fought
from two games down to force a fifth but the second seed
fought back to maintain an early lead which he had at the
start of the fifth.
Duncan Lee created the only upset in the boys under 15 age
group defeating Iranian Mohammed Rezajaffarzadeh in five
evenly contested games. The other three seeds all won
through comfortably in three games.
Amirah Rusydina created a major upset in the Girls under 15
defeating the top seed Sneha Sivakumar in three straight
games.
In the boys under 11 Levinesh Prakesh continued his fine
form defeating Chris Lau in the semi finals. Levinesh now
has one more match left to win to cap a remarkable week, in
the final he will face top seed Pakistani Huzaifa Ibrahim
after he ended the run of useeded player Veroon Heng in four
games.
Day THREE:
Andrew Cross reports
The REDtone KL Junior
open entered the third day with the matches getting tougher
and tougher at this stage of the event.
In the boys under 15 event there were only two upsets to the
top eight seeds. Aqif Azahari defeated Vasudef Vasanthan in
five games saving match balls in the fourth to progress for
a match against top seed Hafiz Zhafri in the quarter finals.
The other upset came when Kerwin Teh recovered from a set
down to defeat Kiven Shanmugam in four games. Tomorrow
Kerwin will play Danial Nurhaqiem for a place in the
semi-finals.
In the boys under 17 event the only upset created was by
Iranian Mojtaba Kafili who won a five game marathon against
Daryl Gan. Mojtaba recovered from a set down to win the next
two before losing the fourth game 11.9. The fifth was close
all the way before Mojtaba managed to sneak it 11.9.
In the Girls under 15s event Nur Syarifah continued her fine
form defeating Vasundhra Vasanthan in three games setting up
a quarter final clash with reigning British Junior Open
Champion Jessica Keng.
In the Girls under 13s event match of the day was between
Nur Waffiah and Yasshmita Jadishkumar where it went to a
fifth game and a deciding tie break of 22-20. The top two
seeds Kiroshanna Manoharan and Wong Heng Wai look on a
collision course to meet in the finals.
In the boys under 11 Levinesh Prakash continued his winning
ways and progressed to the semi-finals with a win over
Eugene Oon in four games. His opponent in the semi-final
will be Chris Lau after he defeated Pradeep Prakash in four
games. Veroon Heng managed to defeat another seed winning
through to the semi-finals where he will face Pakistans
Muhammed Ibrahim.
Day TWO:
Andrew Cross reports
The REDtone KL Junior Open for 2015 saw a few upsets created
on day 2 as most of the top seeds progressed but a few of
the 9.16 seeds were beaten.
In the boys under 17 age group William Curtis defeated Sunil
Kumar in three games to set up a last sixteen match with
Harley Lam after he required four games to defeat Julian
Wong. Mivesh Kumar was another player to create an upset
when he won 11.9 in the fifth against Colombian Martin Rios.
Jesse Foo played well to beat Adam Aziz in five games and he
faces his old rival Eugene Heng in tomorrow’s last 16 match
after he defeated Singapore’s Ijoe Tan.
In the girls under 15s there was a couple of upsets but
similar with the other age groups most of the higher seeded
players are making it through at the moment. Nur Syarifah
defeated Charlize Goh in five games.
The other upset was when two team mates clashed Nurul
Farzana defeating Wong Heng Ying in four games. The last
upset was created by Leoh Liyen defeating Japanese player
Ayumi Watanabe in three games.
A couple of upsets in the under 13s saw promising player
Muhd Fayyad lose out to Singapore’s Edward Thng in a five
game thriller. Another five game thriller was the match
between Lee Kah Choon and Joachim Chuah which Joachim
managed to win in a tie break in the last set.
Quite a few upsets in the boys under 11s probably some of
the tougher age groups to seed are the younger ones. Second
seed Arvin Rasoulzadeh was defeated by Anil Prakash in four
games but then he was beaten by Danish Syafiq in four games
who in turn lost to Levinesh Prakash in three games.
Veroon Heng is the other unseeded player to make the quarter
finals beating Japans Yujin Ikeda in three games.
Day ONE:
Andrew Cross reports
The 9th edition of the REDtone KL Junior Open 2015 got
underway today at two venues, with the older age groups
playing at Bukit Jalil and the younger age groups playing at
Jalan Duta.
All of the seeds in the boys under 17s matches were in
action today but the top 16 players all won pretty
comfortably. KL player Afy Luqman needed five games to see
of Sabah’s Nicholas Tan with Ngoo Zhan Yew from Malaysia
also needing five games to see off Iranian Mazier Hakimi.
In the boys under 15 age group all of the seeds won through
till tomorrow but a few of them needed more than three games
to progress. Kiven Shanmugam needed four games to defeat
Justin Ho, with Aqif Azahari and Nicholas Chee needing all
five games to see off Dominic Long and Aqif Haikal Shukor
respectively.
The boys under 13 age group saw only one upset when Cheng
Wei Quan defeated Iranian Amir Hossein Sadeghkhani in five
games. Lee Yi Guan was the other seed that was tested but
managed to survive a five game thriller when he defeated
Singapore’s Josiah Chong.
Tomorrow will see the matches become a lot tougher as most
of the seeded players will be entering into the event or
face tougher challenges.
PREVIEW:
The REDtone KL Junior Open in 2015 will become the biggest
Junior event in the World so far with 608 players
representing 13 countries. There will be two venues in use
to accommodate all the players, Bukit Jalil hosting the
older age groups and Jalan Duta hosting the younger age
groups.
There will be 12 titles up for grabs as the competition runs
from under 9s to under 19s. Reigning Asian Junior Champion
Andrea Lee will be looking to retain the title that she won
last year but should face competition from team mate Nazihah
Hanis and Japan’s Satomi Watanabe as well as Sri Lanka’s
Methsarani.
Iranian Sajad Zareian will look to win the Boys Under 19
title for the first time but there will be a lot of
competition especially from Japan’s Ryunosuke Tsukue the
talented player from Japan who has the abilities to cause
problems.
Aifa Azman will be the top seed for the Girls under 17s
competition and should face similar competition from the
people that she needed to beat to win the under 15 event
last year. Nur Aliah, Lai Wen Li as well as Chan Yiwen and
Ooi Kah Yan have the ability to spoil the show. Hong Kong
Cheng Nga Ching could cause a few problems as well.
Alireza Shameli will be the top seed for the boys under 17
event as he was last year but he couldn’t quite win the
title last year will he be able to do it this year. Harley
Lam will be seeded two but locals Eugene Heng and Darren
Rahul could cause a few upsets.
Andrew Cross |
