Exceeding Expectations

One of the youngest Singapore girls' teams clinches joint-bronze at Asian squash meet

- Kimberly Kwek

It was not Saiesha Ranjan's first time competing on the continental stage, but the Asian Junior Squash Team Championships presented a different challenge to the Singaporean teenager.

The team element of the tournament placed more pressure on the 17-year-old captain of Singapore's young squad, which also comprised Naisha Singh and Jayna Lim, both 14, and Jacintha Han, 13.

But, in the absence of several of the Republic's top youth players, Saiesha and her teammates stepped up and exceeded expectations to clinch a joint-bronze at the Hong Kong Squash Centre.

The fifth seeds reached the semifinals, where they lost 3-0 to second-seeded Malaysia on Feb 15.

This was the Republic's first podium finish in the girls' team event at this tournament since 2017, when they achieved the same result.

Saiesha, who had taken part in the Asian junior individual championships twice, felt added pressure as the most experienced player, knowing that her results would affect the team's. But their months of hard work showed in their results, she added.

"I would've never thought that we'd be on the same level as Asia's squash powerhouses because Singapore hasn't always been at the top, especially in the girls' scene," said the second-year junior college student at Raffles Institution.