In final, Egypt overcome Malaysia 2-0, Amina Orfi and Zeina Zein claim victories
Jonathan Smith
Melbourne (Australia): Egypt have won their tenth WSF Women’s World Junior Team Championship title and their eight in succession after a 2-0 win against No.2 seeds Malaysia at Melbourne Sports Centres.
Malaysia came into today’s final with revenge on their minds, having lost to Egypt in the final of the last two editions of the tournament, with their first string Aira Azman also losing to Egyptian first string Amina Orfi in the final of the individual championship earlier this week.
The No.2 seeds chances were boosted by news ahead of the tie that Egypt were without two players due to illness, meaning the defending champions were represented by Amina Orfi, Zeina Zein and Nadien El Hammamy.
Zein, up first with the 2-1-3 string order today, picked up the gauntlet almost flawlessly from original second string Fayrouz Aboelkheir. After taking a 2-0 lead against Sehveetrraa Kumar, the Egyptian was pegged back in game three 11-2.
The 18-year-old soon found the perfect response, however, delivering a stunning 11-0 win in game four to give her side the lead.
In the second match, Orfi was at her clinical best as she kept Azman at arm’s length. The 16-year-old kept her cool while Azman made errors in the first two games to take a 2-0 lead, before putting the Malaysian to the sword with an 11-2 win in game three.
Result: (Egypt beat Malaysia 2-0)
Amina Orfi beat Aira Azman 3-0: 11-7, 11-8, 11-2 (34m)
Zeina Zein beat Sehveetrraa Kumar 3-1: 11-3, 11-5, 2-11, 11-0 (27m)
Nadien El Hammamy w/d Thanusaa Uthrian
