04 Aug 2015
Doha, 4 August 2015. The Aspire squash team returned to Doha following a week in Eindhoven, Netherlands competing at the 2015 World Junior Championships from July 25 to 30. Azlan Amjad and Umair Zaman, both graduates of Aspire Academy, gained valuable experience competing at this level with Azlan producing an excellent overall result to finish in 21st position, whilst Umair claimed 42nd place.
Azlan received a bye in the first round due to his high European junior ranking and played the second round against Columbian number two Robert Palomino. After falling behind in the match 2 games to 0 and saving four match points, he eventually took the third game 20-18.
Following this, Azlan’s physical supremacy was clear and he comfortably won the remaining 2 games to take the match 6/11, 7/11, 20/18, 11/7, 11/4. In the next round he played number 2 seed Pakistani Tayyab Aslam and lost 3/1 with the score of 10/12, 11/3, 11/6, 11/7.
In the plate event for 17th position Azlan won his following two matches against the number one players from South Africa and Sweden both 3/1 before going down in his final match against England number 2 James Peach with the score of 6/11, 11/6, 7/11, 10/12. Overall it was a very good tournament for Azlan, who showed that he has the capabilities to join the senior PSA circuit in the near future.
Umair Zaman also received a bye first up and played the second round against French number two Adrien Grondin. Unfortunately, apart from stages in the 2nd game, Umair did not produce his best squash and was beaten in straight games 7/11, 12/14, 4/11.
Umair received a bye and a walkover in the first two rounds of the plate playoff for 33 position. Following this he played Columbian number 3 Matias Knudsen where he was beaten 3/1 with the score of 5/11, 11/7, 11/7, 11/9. Despite this defeat he did benefit from the experience and still has one more year as a junior player in which to improve on these performances.