All Malaysian affairs
A MALAYSIAN double is confirmed at the Malaysian Tour’s 11th leg in National Squash Centre in Bukit Jalil today.
Syafiq Kamal and Addeen Idrakie Bahtiar set up an allMalaysian men’s final while top seed Rachel Arnold gets a chance to avenge her Kuala Lumpur Sea Games final defeat to S. Sivasangari after both reached the women’s final.
Top seed Syafiq, singles runner-up at the Sea Games, brushed aside Amaad Fareed of Pakistan 11-7, 11-9, 11-3 while Addeen knocked out second seeded compatriot Elvinn Keo 9-11, 11-9, 11-9, 11-9.
Rachel overcame national junior Andrea Lee 11-4, 6-11, 11-7, 11-4 while Sivasangari, fresh from winning the Beijing Challenge Cup last week, ousted Scotland’s Lisa Aitken 11-5, 9-11, 7-11, 11-6, 11-6.
Meanwhile, national champion Ivan Yuen’s run of losses on the PSA Tour extended to four matches when he succumbed 1412, 11-5, 11-9 to Hong Kong’s sixth seeded Tsz Fung Yip.
After a defeat in the New Zealand Southern Open in June, Ivan lost in the first round of the SquashXL Open and the first qualifying round of the China Open, which sandwiched a second round exit at the World Games, a non-PSA Tour event.
Ng Eain Yow, however, has found the going tough since winning men’s singles gold at the Sea Games after suffering a second consecutive defeat.
The 2016 world junior champion exited the Nash Cup in Ontario, Canada in the first round on Wednesday after stretching seventh seed Ben Coleman of England to the distance before bowing out 11-8, 6-11, 11-5, 5-11, 11-7.
This comes after World No 83 Eain Yow lost to Hong Kong’s 145th-ranked Henry Leung in five games in the first qualifying round of the HKFC International on Sept 4. Devinder Singh