Aifa claims second PSA title

Azman won her second professional title in less than two months after beating Lai Wen Li in the Malaysian Tour fourth leg women’s final at the Royal Lake Club yesterday.

Having bagged the second leg last month for her first PSA Tour title, sixth seed Aifa won the clash between two national juniors 11-5, 11-7, 11-3.

World No 87 Aifa, who won all four of her matches in the fourth leg in straight games, described this tournament as a little easier than the second leg.

“I was not put under as much pressure here as in the second leg as I had to beat (teammate) Andrea Lee there,” said Aifa, 16, who combined with Andrea and Wen Li to win the Sea Games women’s team gold last year.

“I was supposed to meet the top seed (Ho Tze Lok) in the semi-finals but she lost in the quarter-finals so that made things a little easier.”

National juniors dominated the women’s event by claiming all four semi-final spots as Chan Yiwen and Ma SiYi lost to Aifa and Wen Li respectively.

Yiwen claimed the scalp of Hong Kong’s Tze Lok in the last-eight while another national junior, M. Kiroshanna, ousted second seed Sadia Gul of Pakistan in the first round.

Aifa will attempt to win her third title at the fifth leg in Penang, where she is seeded eighth, on Feb 28-Mar 2.

“I’ve won two titles already this year and I hope there is more to come,” said the three-time British Junior Open champion.

Tang Ming Hong won an all-Hong Kong men’s final 12-14, 11-2, 11-13, 11-6, 11-3 over Lau Tsz Kwan.