KUALA LUMPUR: Youngster Noor Ainaa Amani Ampandi will certainly head home from her maiden World Squash Championships with her head held high.
The 21-year-old, who earned her spot through the qualifying tournament last month, could not progress beyond the first round as she lost 8-11, 12-10, 12-10, 11-9 to world No 17 Farida Mohamed of Egypt in Chicago on Wednesday.
Buoyed by a string of impressive performances of late, the world No 67 started brightly and stunned her more illustrious opponent by taking the first game 11-8.
Ainaa had chances in both the second and third games, but Farida had a little too much in depth as she took both games by a whisker.
It was still incredibly close in the fourth game, with Ainaa fighting hard to show her worth.
Ultimately, it was Farida who came through to take the win in 38 minutes.
The Egyptian takes on compatriot and third seed Hania El Hammamy in the second round.
Despite the loss, Ainaa deserves credit for putting up a strong challenge against a top-20 opponent.
"Overall, it was a really good match, and I was so close to winning it," said Ainaa.
"But I am really happy with my performance and to play like that against a top-20 opponent is just amazing.
"There are certainly positives from this match, and I look forward to more improvement.
"Going forward, I hope to make the team for the Hangzhou Asian Games this year."
National assistant coach Andrew Cross also had praise for Ainaa's performance.
"I thought Ainaa played well, and she had chances to take it to a fifth game," said Cross.
"It's definitely a good sign of improvement for Ainaa."
Meanwhile, it was also the end of the road for world No 26 Rachel Arnold.
The national No 1's slump continued as she was beaten 11-6, 11-5, 5-11, 11-7 by Egypt's world No 27 Hana Ramadan.
In the men's event, veteran national No 2 Ivan Yuen also bowed out after losing 11-9, 11-5, 11-8 to England's Patrick Rooney.
Men's national No 1 Ng Eain Yow and the women's quartet of Aifa Azman, S. Sivasangari, Aira Azman and Yasshmita Jadishkumar are in action on Saturday.
