Mistakes cost Nafiizwan a berth in London
AN error-prone Nafiizwan Adnan was denied a place in his first PSA Tour final of the year after tumbling out of the Wimbledon Club Open in the semi-finals in London on Thursday.
National No 1 Nafiizwan, seeded second, could not capitalise on a bright start as he succumbed 911, 11-3, 11-8, 11-6 to England’s third-seeded Tom Richards.
A total of 19 unforced errors put paid to Nafiizwan’s hopes of reaching his first final since winning the Hong Kong Fooball Club International title in May last year.
World No 30 Nafiizwan will have to get over the defeat quickly as he attempts to qualify for the British Open main draw when the qualifying rounds begin in Hull tomorrow.
Meanwhile, Nafiizwan will lead a Malaysian team to a five-nation doubles tournament in Manchester at the end of the month.
Nafiizwan will be paired with national No 2 Ivan Yuen while world junior champion Ng Eain Yow partners Syafiq Kamal in another pairing for matches against Australia, England, Ireland and Wales on Mar 28-29.
Squash Racquets Association of Malaysia director of coaching Mej (rtd) S. Maniam said the players require exposure to doubles ahead of the Kuala Lumpur Sea Games in August and the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games next year.
“These are the pairs we want to try out and in the long-term, for Nafiizwan and Ivan to be looking at the Commonwealth Games,” said Maniam.
At the World Doubles Championships in Darwin last year, Nafiizwan teamed up with Syafiq and narrowly missed out on the semifinals before finishing seventh in the classification matches.
Ivan partnered Sanjay Singh Chal at the same tournament with the pair losing all four of their pool matches. Devinder Singh