Young Iranian male and female athletes have produced commendable performances at the REDtone 9th Kuala Lumpur International Junior Open Squash Championships in Malaysia, and snatched four silver medals in different divisions.
Parmin Nekoupayan fought tooth and nail at the National Squash Center in Bukit Jalil, located about 20 kilometers (12 miles) south of the Malaysian capital city of Kuala Lumpur, and managed to defeat her opponents to reach the girls’ under-9 final.
She lost to Sashmini Chandran, a representative from the host nation, in straight sets (11-4, 11-1 and 11-5) in her last game, and took away the silver medal.
Iran’s Mohammad Danial Gharouni also steamrolled his rivals in the boy’s under-17 competitions, before falling to Malaysian Muhammad Amir Amirul Azhar 11-3, 12-10, 11-8 in the final.
In the boys’ under-17 category, Alireza Shameli suffered defeat (8-11, 11-8, 11-2, 9-11, 13-11) against Eugene Heng Jeng Li from Malaysia, and settled for the silver.
Sajjad Zare’ian also lost to Ryunosuke Tsukue from Japan (13-11, 11-9 and 11-3) in the final of the boys’ under-19 category, and was awarded the silver medal.
The REDtone 9th Kuala Lumpur International Junior Open Squash Championships started in Malaysia on December 1, and wrapped up on December 6.
The tournament brought some 500 squash players together, making it the biggest junior sporting event in Asia.