KUALA LUMPUR: Harith Danial Jefri and Low Wa Sern kept Malaysia in the hunt at the World Junior Squash Championships by reaching the boys' quarter-finals in Houston, the United States yesterday (July 14).
Harith, who was second in the Asian Under-19 recently, upset Colombia's joint third seed Juan Jose Torres Lara 11-4, 7-11, 11-2, 11-7 in the fourth round.
The Sarawakian, who was seeded joint ninth, will face Abdallah Eissa of England for a place in the semi-finals.
Southpaw Wa Sern, who upset joint ninth seed Juan Irisarri of Colombia in third round, stopped Egypt's Adham Roshdy 11-9, 11-6, 8-11, 12-10.
The Perakian will face India's Shaurya Bawa in the quarter-finals.
In the girls' category, Whitney Isabelle Wilson lost 11-7, 11-3, 11-4 to joint third seed Caroline Fouts of the United States while Asian Under-19 champion U. Thanussa lost 3-11, 11-7, 11-8, 11-9 to joint fifth seed Riya Navani of the United States.
Team manager Major (rtd) S. Maniam said: "Another sparkling performance by Harith as he was top form rolling some beautiful drop shots and he volleyed the ball well. He took his opportunities with such a class against Juan Jose.
"What a game by Wa Sern. He played a brilliant game and kept the rallies going against Adham. He gave everything he had as he dived a dozen times throughout the match. He had a fantastic victory over Adham.
"From the eight boys in the quarter-finals, two are from Malaysia, two from Pakistan and one each from Egypt, India, England and South Korea.
"But it was unfortunate that two of our girls, despite giving their best, lost in the fourth round.
"We hope they will bounce back to play much better in the team event."