BANKING on his strong overseas performances in 2019, Christopher Buraga attained a milestone for Philippine squash by topping the boys’ under-17 ratings of the Asian Squash Federation for the month of October.
A protégé of the Philippine Squash Academy, Buraga, 16, garnered 643.5 points from four international events two years ago, finishing 23.5 points ahead of Hong Kong’s Jat Tse, who saw action in five tournaments in 2019; and 36 points up on Pakistani third placer Mohammad Hamza Khan.
Buraga’s points were gained when he ruled the CMS Junior Open in Sarawak, Malaysia and Lion City Junior Championships in Singapore, finished second in the Asian Junior Championships in Macao, and finished fifth in the Penang, Malaysia Junior Open.
“This is a great achievement for local squash since this is the first time we have had a junior player emerge as the No. 1 in ASF rankings,” PSA president Robert Bachmann said yesterday. “We are truly proud (of) what Christopher has accomplished.”
Bachmann explained that Buraga took top spot in the group since the ASF froze its rankings since February 2020 in the absence of Asian junior tournaments across the continent the previous year due to the pandemic.
“He (Buraga) will be an asset to our national team in future international events, including the Asian Games next year,” he said.
Bachmann said the PSA has another young talent in Jonathan Reyes “who is at par with Christopher but has not had the international experience that he has. There are times that Jonathan even beats him.”
With the national team inactive for over a year since winning a breakthrough gold medal in the mixed team event in the 2019 Southeast Asian Games, the squash chief is thankful the Philippine Sports Commission is funding its three successive tournaments in Malaysia.
“We are grateful for the PSC’s support for funding the events that are all going to be in Kuala Lumpur one after the other,” Bachmann said, referring to the Malaysian Open on Nov. 23 to 27, Asian team championships on Nov. 30 to Dec. 4 and world team championships.
He added that US-based Matthew Lucente, plus either Buraga or Reyes, would beef up the men’s squad composed of Robert Garcia, David Pelino and Reymark Begornia in both the Asian and world team meets.
Jemyca Aribado, Alysah Dalida and Lizette Reyes will make up the women’s squad in both team events.
“We are going to field Garcia, Pelino, Begornia and Aribado as our entries to the Malaysian Open,” he said.
