Chennai: On Sunday in the team event of the Asian Junior Squash Championship at Pattaya in Thailand, Indian girls went down to higher ranked Malaysia and finished third.
A SRFI released that it was a stroll in the park for Malaysia which did not stretch much as it won both the matches in straight games for a 2-0 win in the semifinals and made it to the summit clash.
With the loss, India settled for the third place and a bronze medal. The loss notwithstanding, India's overall show, despite not being with the best team, was far better than the sixth place in the last edition at Hong Kong two years ago.
“I am happy with the performance. Three of the four girls in our squad are 16-years-old so they have a future'', National Coach Cyrus Poncha said.
''Of course two girls were unable to make it, so we look forward now to a good performance in the World junior championship in July this year”, he added.
The boys’ team semi-finals event would be held later in the day, where India would again play Malaysia.
Result:
Semi-final:
Girls: Malaysia bt India 2-0 (Aifa Azman bt Sanya Vats 11-2, 11-6, 11-6; Chan Yiwen bt Yoshna Singh 11-6, 11-1, 11-6).