India wins team gold medal at Asian Junior Squash Championships

The boys' team along with the girls' squad at the end of the prize distribution ceremony in the Asian junior team squash championship in Hong Kong on Sunday.

 

 

What’s the story?

India thrashed Malaysia 2-0 in the final of the boys’ team event to finish a memorable campaign at the 18th Asian Junior Team Squash Championship in Hong Kong on Sunday. The boys lived up to their top seeding and won both their matches against the second seeds, Malaysia, in the summit clash. 

While Velavan Senthilkumar beat Ong Sai Hung, 12-10, 11-0, 11-2, Abhay Singh put up a brilliant show of resilience to come back from two games down and beat Darren Rahul Pragasam, 10-12, 7-11, 11-5, 14-12, 11-6.

The third match between India’s Ranjit Singh and Malaysia’s Mohd Farez Izwan was not played. This is India’s second triumph at this tournament with the earlier one coming in 2011 over Pakistan. The win has earned a lot of praise from India’s national coach Cyrus Poncha, who said: “It was brilliant stuff from the Indians.”

In case you didn’t know...

Velavan Senthilkumar has been on a sizzling run for the last few months. The 18-year-old southpaw won the Asian Junior U-19 Championship last September and then followed it up with the British Junior U-19 crown in January this year.

The heart of the matter

India dominated this event right from the start and finished top in their respective group during the qualifying rounds. The boys beat Korea 2-1, Japan 3-0, Iran 3-0, Pakistan 3-0 and Macau 3-0.

In the semi-finals, they overcame the third seeds Hong Kong, 2-0. Senthilkumar was under pressure during the semi-final clash but he eventually eked out a five-game victory over Lai Cheuk Nam Matthew to give his country a 2-0 win.

Squash Rackets Federation of India (SRFI) patron N Ramachandran was delighted with the performances of the Indian players.

“After the British Junior Open success and now the Asian championship, it is clear junior squash in the country is on a firm foundation, thanks to the structured training that was started more than a decade ago. My congratulations to the entire team for winning the Asian crown again,” he said.

What’s next?

Senthilkumar has been swiftly improving and has shown his potential on the international stage. If he continues to perform in the same fashion, he may not be far away from a junior World No. 1 ranking soon.

Sportskeeda’s take

The consistent performances from the juniors in the country signals a rapid growth and development of the sport at the grassroots level. Not only that, it also indicates how solid and structured the system currently is.

It is just a matter of time before these uber talented youngsters take over from the likes of Saurav Ghosal, Harinderpal Sandhu and Mahesh Mangaonkar.