Sarawak squash youngsters upset form book

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SIBU: Sarawak’s squash prodigies had a breakthrough performance in the recent 16th Ong Beng Hee and Nicol David (OBH & ND) Trophy held in Negri Sembilan.

Nathan Kueh, the 11-year-old from SJK Chung Hua Miri, took the silver medal in the boy’s individual. He bagged a second silver when he combined with Sibu’s Caleb Lau, Tommy Lau and Clifford Tay from Kuching to finish runner-up in the boy’s team event.

The girls, ranked 5th in the tournament, clinched third place after beating 4th seed Selangor in the playoff match.

Tournament favourites Kedah swept all four titles at stake.

This was also the first time that a boy from Sarawak had qualified for the final in the OBH & ND tournament.

Nathan lost tamely to top seed Kiven Shanmugam from Kedah 0-3 (10-12, 4-11, 7-11) in the individual final.

However, faced with the same opponent in the team event, Nathan almost created an upset when he surprisingly took the first two sets only for Kiven to fight back to take the next three games.

Clifford raised Sarawak’s hopes when he won his match.

Unfortunately, Caleb could not sustain the momentum bowing out 1-3.

For the girls, Sarawak was represented by Chloe Chieng from Miri, Natalie Sim, Zoe Ting and Rachel Kong, all from Kuching.

They made it to the last four after beating Sabah but lost to Kedah in the semi-finals.

Squash Racquets Association of Sarawak (SRAS) president Robert Lau Hui Yew said the results showed that the Sarawak players had performed beyond expectations.

“Given a few more years of dedication and hard work, I am confident that our young players will be able to rule the podium,” he added.