Young Aifa delivers for team gold
A MALAYSIAN team comprising exclusively of teenagers retained the Sea Games women’s squash team gold medal with a 2-1 win over Singapore in the final in Bukit Jalil yesterday.
Andrea Lee and Aifa Azman won the last two matches after Ooi Kah Yan was beaten in the opener to claim Malaysia’s sixth gold medal in squash at the National Squash Centre.
The half-a-dozen gold medals is one short of the targeted seven by the Squash Racquets Association of Malaysia following the shock defeat of the men’s team in the semi-finals against the Philippines on Monday.
Kah Yan, 16, was first on court and stretched Singapore’s Pamela Chua to five games before bowing out 12-10, 4-11, 11-4, 711, 11-9 leave Malaysia with a 1-0 deficit.
Andrea, the women’s doubles gold medallist and silver medallist in the mixed doubles, drew Malaysia level with an 11-8, 11-6, 116 win over Mao Shihui.
It was left to the team’s youngest member, Aifa Azman, to deliver the winning the point and the 15-year-old obliged by beating Sneha Sivakuma 116, 11-4, 11-6.
As the team’s most experienced player, 18-year-old Andrea was happy to have helped Malaysia retain the gold medal won in 2015 in Singapore.
Lai Wen Li, 17, the fourth member of the team, was not required for the final after playing in the semi-final win over Indonesia.
“It feels great to have won another gold medal and this was a real team effort,” said Andrea, who is due to leave the junior ranks.
For Aifa, injury prevented her from playing in the women’s doubles where she was replaced by Andrea as Rachel Arnold’s partner.
But the youngster recovered in time for the team event and played an important role in the victory. Devinder Singh