MANILA – Filipino squash player Christopher Buraga outplayed his Malaysian opponent to reach the boys’ Under-17 quarterfinal round in the ongoing 7th Borneo Junior Open in Sarawak, Malaysia.
The second-seeded Buraga downed Izz Nabil Iman Bin Shahrizan Azrol, 11-6, 11-8, 16-14, to advance against another Malaysian, Daarvish Thangaraja, who scored an 11-8, 11-3, 11-8 victory over compatriot Kaesaav Selvamanikan.
Also gaining quarterfinal berths were Malaysians Aquil Mirza Naim bin Khairil Fariz, Abdul Fahmi Abd Basir, Tay Jun Ren, Addin Iqwan, Altamis Aqhar Sallam A Sufian and Nittish Manimaran.
In the Under-19 category, Jonathan Reyes defeated Chinese Qianzhi Zhao, 11-5, 11-9, 11-3, to secure a second round berth in the Asian Junior Super Series gold event sanctioned by the Asian Squash Federation (ASF).
He will be up against Malaysian Harold Rynesh Aloysius, who needed only 17 minutes to prevail over countryman Mark Lo Zi Jin, 11-3, 11-3, 11-8.
Last week at the CIMB National Junior Circuit Leg 2, Buraga had to settle for the silver medal after losing to Reyes, 11-7, 4-11, 11-5, 14-16, 9-11 in their first final encounter.
“He (Reyes) played well, he just persevered through every rally, and every time I put pressure on him, he gets all the balls,” said Buraga in an interview on Friday morning.
“All my attacks, and all the pressure, he chases everything, and he is very patient, especially when he is under pressure,” he added.
Buraga is currently No. 10 in the U-17 category of the ASF junior rankings updated every February, April, June, August, October and December.
Korean Na Joo Young holds the No. 1 spot followed by Low Wa-Sern (Malaysia), Ruhan Arya Gondi (India), Wong Lee Hong (Malaysia), KS Arihant (India), Gurveer Singh (India), Ryu Jeonguk (Korea), Aley Afifi (Egypt) and Hashvind Kugan (India). (PNA)