By : Nalin Jayetileke
It has been a fantastic few weeks for Sri Lanka Squash as we saw the Sri Lanka No 1 Ravindu Laksiri and Shamil Wakheel play at the Victorian Open where Laksiri fought his way up the ranks, to only loose during the quarterfinal stage with a thrilling 5 setter up against the No 85 ranked in the world. It was a fantastic performance by the Lankans thus far in Melbourne Australia as Sri Lankas U19 Nevindu Lakman too joined the ranks by playing in the World Junior open, also held during the time in Malborne.
the 18 Yr old youngster from D S Senanayaka Collège Colombo was in excellent form. Though he lost in the main draw game to Canada No 1 in a 5 setter, he did play exceeding everyone’s expectation s when he went on to beat the Hong Kong 1 in the plate game where he pulled off a thrilling straight set win, the same player he lost last Nov in a straight setter.
Nevindu was seen using is favorite fake shots off the back hand with which he rattled his opponents and used a few Wally drops to seal the deal with the Hong Kong No 1. Nevindu how ever, lost to an indian player during the process and was able to secure the ranked 72 in the world in the juniors which by far is the highest rank any Sri Lankan has reach in Squash in the world junior ranking. He also hold the no 3 rank in Asia paying alongside the classy Pakistanis and the Indian players and has made his country proud being up their in the top tear of World junior Squash.
He is now set to play in a Professional Open which starts tomorrow in Hobart Australia. Before the youngster left for Hobart he was seen appreciated by a Hume city Squash Club , Victoria where Nevindu took some time off his busy schedule to train and talk to some of the young junior Squash Players of that club on Melbourne.
The world junior championship was won by Hamzar Khan pf Pakistan where he beat Mohamed Zakaria in the Final and made history winning the crown after 37yrs for Pakistan. The women’s junior title was won by Malaysian Aira Azman who beat Ammuina Orfi of Egypt to defend her title, winning it for the 2nd time . In 2001, top Malaysian player during the time Nicol David too had her hand on this title and was seen holding at the top of the seat for over 108 months.
Whilst Nevindu plays in Hobart now, Shamil Wakheel, Sri Lanka ranked no 2 played in Tasmania yesterday where he pulled off an easy straights set victory over his opponent Cameroon Darton in less than 30 minutes at the PSA Open East side Open played 5 PSA in Tasmania , in Australia with which he is placed now to be playing his pre quarter finales this afternoon ( Australia time)
All in all, it has been a great few weeks for Sri Lanka Squash and on behalf of the the sundayreader.lk news team and sports coverage team here in Melbourne we would like to congratulate the Sri Lanka Squash federation, All coaches and supporting staff, sponsors and Sri Lanka Squash Masters fraternity who have helped and trained the players to reach great heights in world squash, its plays for what they have achieved and wish them all success in the future.
