blue heron - Jurong Country Club

SPECIAL FEATUREPang Ka Hoe Smashes His Way ToBritish Junior OpenThe year started on a promising note for one of our junior members, PangKa Hoe, who made it to the quarter-finals of this year’s British Junior OpenUnder-15 category. This is the first time a Singapore player made it this far inthis prestigious tournament held in Sheffield, Manchester, which features topplayers from all over the world. Some of the notable past winners includemany current and ex-world champions like Chris Dittmar (Aus), Ong BengHee (Msia), Nick Mathew (UK), Karim Darwish (Egy), James Willstrop (UK) andRamy Ashour (Egy).Ka Hoe, who was not seeded in this event, was in brilliant form, managingto overcome players from Wales, England and Egypt to reach the quarters.When asked how he achieved the feat, he said; “Before I even think about myopponent I had to first overcome the extreme weather. The cold icy conditionwas affecting my game in the early part of the tournament. Fortunately myparents heeded my coach’s recommendation to be there one week early andit paid off handsomely, as I had sufficient time to adapt and adjust my gameto slowly ease into the competition. I have to quickly learn how to tweak myswings to generate more power and speed in my shots. I had to hit much harderthan I was normally accustomed to in Singapore. The one month of intensivetraining I went through in December was also a big factor in my performance.”Ka Hoe, who turns 15 this April, started picking the squash racquet five yearsago and has never looked back since. He enrolled into the junior programorganised by Jurong Country Club two years ago and gained valuable insightunder the guidance of ex-national player Simon Yang. On top ofthat Ka Hoe now trains regularly with the national senior teamat Kallang. Asked what will be the next big thing for him, hequipped, “I have skipped schools for many days; one week forthe British Junior and another week in the recently completedAsian Junior held in Sri Lanka; so my immediate big plan now isto play catch up with my school work.”JCC JUNIOR SQUASHPROGRAMME PAYS OFFWe are proud to announce that outof four players selected to representSingapore at the 15th Asian JuniorTeam Championship 2011 held inRatmalana, Sri Lanka in January thisyear, three were our own JCC Juniormembers – Timothy Soh (17), Pang KaHoe (14) and Pang Ka Wai (15). Thethree, who were amongst the pioneergroup of juniors under the JCC JuniorSquash programme started in 2009,also train regularly with the nationalsenior team at Kallang Squash Centrenow.Singapore was seeded 10th out of 12participating countries, and manageda respectable 8th place eventually.Considering the age limit for thisevent (19), our Singapore team haveperformed remarkably well as theyhad to contend mostly with olderopponents. We hope they will putup an even better showing and claimhonours for Singapore inthe next tournament that iscoming up in another twoyears.With this achievement we hope that Ka Hoe will be spurred toscale greater heights in the months and years ahead and hopefullybring home greater glories to Singapore and Jurong Country Club.the blue heron17