Team Singapore shone once again at the 3rd Southeast Asian Junior Individual Squash Championships by ending their campaign with four Golds, two Silvers and six Bronzes. This achievement is an improvement from the previous year, where Team Singapore returned with three titles. The annual event, held at the Vajiravudh College once again, was attended by nearly 150 top juniors from the region across ten categories.

Kareena Sashikumar, who won the GU11 event last year and top seed in the event, gave Team Singapore the perfect start to the day when she came back from 1-2 down to take the GU13 title against second-seeded Malaysian Karesha Kugan. The Primary 6 student from Farrer Primary School took a while to get her rhythm as she was outplayed in the first game before levelling in the next game. In the third, she was punished for some bad shot selections and fell behind once again. She was once again trailing 1-4 in the fourth, before Kareena turned things around and never looked back.

Team Singapore’s second title came through Naisha Singh who defeated Jayna Lim in an all-Singapore final in the GU15 category. The win is a step up for Naisha, who finished as runner-up last year. Both girls, who attend Raffles Girls’ School, last met in the National Junior Championships in March where they played against each other twice, with the matches split evenly between them. It was no different at this event as the match went to the wire, with Naisha claiming the fifth game 13-11 in a 44-minute battle.

Ong Zhe Sim and Ethan Kuan, both National Junior Champions the past two years, lived up to their top billing in the GU17 and BU17 categories. Both of them completed the gold rush for Team Singapore, with Ong Zhe Sim winning against Malaysian Ooi Wei Min and Ethan halting the run of surprise finalist Inigo Jordan of Philippines – who upstaged three seeded players in a row to make the final.

Silver medals from the event came from Rehaan Singh and Jayna Lim in the BU15 and GU15 categories. With bronzes from Kaelen Low (BU13), Timothy Kok (BU13), Kelihla Cheong (GU15), Shiv Kaul (BU17), Vicky Lai (GU19) and Li Yuan Xin (BU19).

“Having won three Golds last year, winning four this year is yet another milestone for us. We were hoping to go five of five finals, but it is unfortunate that Rehaan (Singh in BU15) lost narrowly. It’s just another instance which proves that we are heading towards the right direction with our national training programme, which wouldn’t be possible if not for the support of our donors and Sport Singapore.

We also had three of our four GU15 girls in the semis this year, which shows the depth in our squad. Those three girls were all also part of the Bronze medal-winning team at the Asian Junior Team Championships earlier in February. We hope to continue to better in what we do and look forward to achieving more for Team Singapore”, said Alex Wan, General Manager of the Singapore Squash Rackets Association, who travelled with the team.

Team Singapore sent a contingent of 27 athletes (13 boys and 14 girls) ranging between 9 to 18 years old. The team was accompanied by coaches Gurshan Singh and Lawrence Kwan, Team Manager Li Li and Singapore Squash General Manager Alex Wan.

The Singapore junior team will next compete at the Henri Charpentier Lion City Junior Open at the Kallang Squash Centre on 31 May to 4 June 2025, before a selected few head to the Asian Junior Individual Championships in Gimcheon, Korea from 17-21 June 2025.

GU11: Lum Yui Yee (7th), Naomi Ng (8th)

GU13: Kareena Sashikumar (1st), Kelsey Low (5th)

GU15: Naisha Singh (1st), Jayna Lim (2nd), Kelihla Cheong (Joint-3rd), Jacintha Han (5th), Rachel Markose (6th), Tiana Ho (11th)

GU17: Ong Zhe Sim (1st), Stacia Lee (6th), Taliah Cheong (11th)

GU19: Vicky Lai (3rd)

BU11: Chua Yi Cheng (5th), Mason Han (7th)

BU13: Kaelen Low (Joint-3rd), Timothy Kok (Joint-3rd)

BU15: Rehaan Singh (2nd), Adiv Gole (6th), Jackrish Sashikumar (7th), Vir Malhotra (11th)

BU17: Ethan Kuan (1st), Shiv Kaul (Joint-3rd), Li Zhiheng (7th), Sean Wong (10th)

BU19: Li Yuan Xin (3rd)

GU11: Keerti Bala (MAS) bt Kavilaasri Balamurugan (MAS) 11-8, 11-4, 11-5

GU13: Kareena Sashikumar (SGP) bt Karesha Kugan (MAS) 5-11, 11-8, 6-11, 11-6, 11-4

GU15: Naisha Singh (SGP) bt Jayna Lim (SGP) 11-8, 9-11, 11-13, 11-6, 13-11

GU17: Ong Zhe Sim (SGP) bt Ooi Wei Min (MAS) 11-7, 11-6, 9-11, 11-7

GU19: (Round Robin) 1st Raifa Puteri Yattaqi (INA), 2nd Puteri Rania Mior Ahmad (MAS)

BU11: Ashton Rain Medino (PHI) bt Iman Dylan (MAS) 11-8, 11-8, 11-8

BU13: Wayne Isaac Wilson (MAS) bt Mior El-Fayedh Mior Ahmad (MAS) 14-16, 15-13, 11-3, 11-6

BU15: Simarver Singh Balmotra (MAS) bt Rehaan Singh (SGP) 6-11, 11-4, 11-9, 11-7

BU17: Ethan Kuan (SGP) bt Inigo Jordan (PHI) 11-9, 11-5, 11-9

BU19: Nabil Iman Shahrizan (MAS) bt Christopher Buraga (PHI) 11-6, 11-6, 11-6

Full results can be found here: https://rankedin.com/en/tournament/52928/or-3rd-southeast-asian-junior-individual-championship-2025/info