Excitement-filled finals day delivers 10 Oceania Junior Champions

Players from six different nations have claimed Oceania Junior Championships titles on Super Sunday in Melbourne today.

Four Australians have taken home gold, while three players were able to defend the titles they won last December in Tauranga, New Zealand.

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Queensland’s Madison Lyon and New Zealand’s Ella Lash clashed for the second time in four days to decide the Girls U19 final, which was also a rematch of their 2023 Oceania decider.

Lyon was not only looking for redemption after Lash came back to beat the top seed on Thursday, but was also defending the Oceania title.

In the first game, Lash held three game balls before Lyon came back to equalise and even held a game ball of her own. Eventually, on her fifth game ball, Lash drew first blood.

The second game could not have been more different, Lyon winning the first six points, then five of the last six points to race through the game and even up the scoreboard.

Lyon against established an early lead in the third however Lash was able to even up the scoreboard and eventually held a game ball at 10-9. However the Queenslander was able to not only recover, but win three straight points to take a 2-1 lead.

Unfortunately the final then came to a premature end with Lash forced to retire due to a medical incident.

In the Boys U19 final, Oliver Dunbar (NZL) came from a game down to defeat Hong Kong’s Arthur Pak Ki Law in an entertaining decider. After taking out Dunbar’s compatriot and second seed Freddie Jameson in the semi-final, Law started strongly to claim the first game, however Dunbar showed greater consistency as the match wore on to claim the title.

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Malaysia’s Xin Yii Lee went down in five game in the AJO final on Thursday but conjured her own redemption story to win the Oceania U17 Girls Final. A day after beating her AJO final nemesis in the semis, Lee took down New Zealand’s top seed Erin Wyllie in just 16 minutes to take the gold.

New Zealand’s Brodie Bennett was successful in his Oceania title defence but was pushed all the way by Saatindraa T S Mohan Raj in a battle of the top two seeds.

The Malaysian was out of the blocks quickly to claim the first two games, however Bennett showed great determination to win the next three games to take out the 38-minute final.

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Joel Raj (QLD) proved to be the ironman of finals day, needing to play a full quota of 10 games to win the Oceania title.

The Under 15 boys needed to play their semi finals this morning, and Raj had to come from two games down to overcome Malaysia’s Nevellton Jinggan. That result set up a final against top seed Henry Kross (NSW) who was looking to defend his Oceania title.

In a see-sawing final, Kross and Raj traded the first four games, sending the final to the fifth. The back-and-forth nature of the match continued with Raj leading 4-0 and 7-3 before Kross levelled at 7-all.

The final momentum swing went with the second seed, reeling off four of the next five points to claim the win.

In an entertaining final, Victoria’s Tina Ma was made to work hard to defend her Oceania crown, pushed all the way by Brooke Valois (NZL). Ma took the first two games before Valois won a marathon third, however the top seed was able to seal the deal in the fourth.

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Emily Senior (JPN) was able to turn the tables on Mahnoor Ali (PAK) in a rematch of the AJO final earlier in the week.

While Ali took the Australian title in three games, Senior was able to come back from a game down today to win the Oceania crown.

In the boys final, Thomas Wang (NSW) was aiming to defend the Oceania title he won in December, however second seed Yuanxi Liu (CHN) was able to overcome the top seed in three games.

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Victoria’s Aleister Loo scored Australia’s first Oceania title of finals day with a three-game win over Nathan Lin (NSW).

The result saw Loo go one better than his runner-up position earlier this week.

Unseeded Abbey Boswell won the first game of the U11 girls final, however India’s Aradhana Singh stayed composed and came back to win in four games. The Queenslander went one better than her AJO result, while the top seed won her second title of the week.

Click here for all results and draws.

2024 OCEANIA JUNIOR CHAMPIONSHIPS
DAY 3 | SUNDAY 14 APRIL 2024

GIRLS FINALS
U19 [1] Madison Lyon (QLD) d [2] Ella Lash (NZL) 2-1 retired (12-14, 11-2, 12-10) 
U17 [5/8] Xin Yii Lee (MAS) d [1] Erin Wyllie (NZL) 3-0 (11-3, 11-5, 11-4)
U15 [1] Tina Ma (VIC) d [3/4] Brooke Valois (NZL) 3-1 (11-4, 11-9, 12-14, 11-5)
U13 [1] Emily Senior (JPN) d [2] Mahnoor Ali (PAK) 3-1 (10-12, 11-7, 11-3, 11-5)
U11 [1] Aradhana Singh (IND) d Abbey Boswell (QLD) 3-1 (7-11, 11-7, 11-2, 11-8)

BOYS FINALS
U19 [1] Oliver Dunbar (NZL) d [5/8] Arthur Pak Ki Law (HKG) 3-1 (7-11, 11-8, 11-5, 11-7)
U17 [1] Brodie Bennett (NZL) d [2] Saatindraa T S Mohan Raj (MAS) 3-2 (7-11, 5-11, 11-4, 11-7, 11-7)
U15 [2] Joel Raj (QLD) d [1] Henry Kross (NSW) 3-2 (7-11, 11-2, 8-11, 11-5, 11-8)
U13 [2] Yuanxi Liu (CHN) d [1] Thomas Wang (NSW) 3-0 (11-4, 11-9, 11-9)
U11 [2] Aleister Loo (VIC) d Nathan Lin (NSW) 3-0 (11-4, 11-2, 11-6)