Sarawak youngster finishes 11th in British Open debut

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Harith Daniel Jefri

KUCHING: Despite failing to meet his target of reaching the semi-finals, Harith Daniel Jefri made a satisfactory debut at the recent British Junior Open Squash Championships in Birmingham, United Kingdom.

The primary six pupil of SK Jalan Bintang, Miri, who will be turning 12 this May, finished in 11th place in the Boys Under-13 singles.

Harith, who was the 9/16 seed, kicked off his campaign with a 3-0 (11-1, 11-7, 11-1) win over Harry Green of Switzerland in the Round of 64 and went on to beat Japan’s Yujin Ikeda also by 3-0 (13-11, 11-5, 11-6) in the last 32 before losing 1-3 (5-11, 11-5, 3-11, 11-13) to Jat Tse of Hong Kong in the last 16.

However, he bounced back from that setback to beat another 9/16 seed from Hong Kong Nathan Shuyou Rosenweig 3-1 (11-7, 3-11, 11-6, 11-4) before losing 2-3 (7-11, 11-9, 7-11, 11-7, 9-11) to Ecuador’s Javier Emilo Romo Lopez in matches to determine final placings.

Harith, who is national Boys U13 number one and ASEAN junior number 10, then ended his campaign by beating American 9/16 seed Hollis Robertson 3-0 (13-11, 11-7,11-8).

Harith’s mother Nur Farhani Chang @ Stephanie Chang said her son was satisfied with the results although he failed to reach the last four.

Had he reached that target, the national squash body SRAM would have reimbursed him all expenses on the air ticket, accommodation and transportation.

“This is his first international competition and his biggest tournament and he has learnt a lot from other players and gained valuable match experience.

“Most players in this age group turn 13 years old this year so we hope to come back to Birmingham next year,” Farhani told The Borneo Post through Whatsapp.

She added that Harith might be next going for the the MSSM Squash Championship in March and the National Junior Squash Championships at Bukit Jalil, Kuala Lumpur in April this year.

Two other Sarawakians Wong Lee Hong and Gregory Chan who also competed in Birmingham, finished sixth in the Boys U11 and 27th in the Boys U15 respectively.

Meanwhile, Malaysia captured four titles in the championship, with K Sehveertrraa winning the Girls U13 title, Aira Azman the Girls U15 singles, her sister Aifa in the Girls U17 singles and S Sivasangari taking the Girls U19 singles, for the country’s best ever outing at the British Junior Open.