KUALA LUMPUR: The Malaysian girls have done it again after storming into the final of the World Junior Team Squash Championships for the third straight year. Led by individual runner-up Aira Azman, the team pulled through with a hard-fought 2-0 win over the United States in the semi-finals in Melbourne on Friday.
With a 3-1-2 order of play, U. Thanusaa put the team on the front foot after beating Emma Trauber 11-9, 11-8, 16-14.It was no mean feat, as the Americans had looked to shake up Malaysia's strategy by deploying Emma instead of regular No 3 Riya Navani.
Thanusaa did well to control the pace by taking the first two games and was in good stead by leading 6-1 in the third game.However, Emma refused to throw in the towel and reeled off a string of points to lead 10-7.
But Thanusaa saved those three game balls, and subsequently, five more game balls in a row before converting her first match ball opportunity to take the win much to the disappointment of the Americans.But the Americans were far from done, and Aira needed every inch of composure to see off Caroline Fouts 9-11, 11-13, 11-6, 11-3, 11-7 to send Malaysia into the final.
Caroline came out firing with a mission to haul the US back into contention and played brilliantly to take the first two games against Aira.However, Aira had the mental fortitude of a seasoned professional and replied in kind as she bounced back comfortably to take the next two games to set up a deciding rubber.
It was neck-and-neck in the fifth game right until seven-all before Aira fired off a string of winners to seal victory after 48 minutes.It is now the third straight final for Malaysia and their fifth overall.
They lost the 2007, 2017 and 2019 finals to Egypt and were runners-up to England in 2001.National coach Andrew Cross was pleased with how his charges overcame the fiery American resistance.
"It was a tough match against the US, and we're definitely happy to have won 2-0 on the day," said Cross."I think Thanusaa did great today, considering we had to change tactics at the last minute.
"We were preparing her to face Riya, who played in all the other matches, and it was a big switch."Especially in the third game when she had to save eight-game balls. We are pleased to see her do that.
"As for Aira, we always knew it would be tough against Caroline."But we had confidence in her to come back and win despite going 2-0 down.
"And she did really well to win the third and fourth and pulled away when it mattered in the fifth."Now we will see how England do against Egypt in the other semi-final. We will take it from there," added Cross.
Defending champions Egypt, who are the overwhelming favourites, were up against England in the other semi-final.
