Jordan, Japan win first medals at Asian junior squash

Amman, July 22: Jordan's Mohammad Al Sarraj and Japan's Satomi Watanabe clinched the Asian junior squash men's and women's Under-19 titles respectively.

For both Jordon and Japan, it was historic breakthrough successes in the 24th edition of the championships held in the Jordanian capital city of Amman.

In the men's final held at the Al Hassan International Squash Centre, local boy Al Sarraj stunned Pakistani favourite Manzoor Zaman 5-11, 11-3, 7-11, 11-3, 11-2 in a 45-minute encounter, much to the delight of the partisan crowd.

Later in the women's final, top seed Watanabe beat Hong Kong's second seed Ho Ka Wing 13-11, 11-6, 11-9 to bring curtains to the five-day tournament, which attracted the top junios from 13 countries, competing in the eight categories.

Meanwhile, Malaysia won all but one of the six other titles at U-17, U-15 and U-13.

Macau also made history by claiming their first medal in the championships when Yeung Weng Chi finished joint third with India's Navmi Sharma in the girls' Under-17 event.

"I would like to congratulate Jordan and Japan, who won the Asian Junior Individual Championship Boys Under-19 and Girls Under-19 titles respectively," said Asian Squash Federation President David Mui.

"My congratulations would also like to extend to Macau who also won its first-ever Asian Junior Individual Championships medal after its player Yeung Weng Chi won a bronze medal.

"I'm glad to see that more different member nations have attained good results in the tournament. This is really encouraging and rewarding as junior development has always been our top priority in the region."