Nafiizwan steps into M’sian Open squash quarter finals

KUALA LUMPUR: The men’s national number one Mohd Nafiizwan Adnan regained his momentum at the 2018 Malaysian Open Squash Championship by defeating Ivan Yuen, who beat him at the National Squash Championship final earlier this month.

In the men’s first round held at the National Squash Centre, Bukit Jalil, the 32-years-old Terengganuborn easily whipped Penangite Ivan 9-11, 11-6, 13-11, 12-10 to face Leo Au of Hong Kong, who had beaten Angus Gilams of England, in the quarter finals scheduled today.

“Today’s match was fiercer than the previous matches. I told myself as long as I was not yet out of the box (before the game ended), I would not be discouraged and would continue to fight until I triumphed.

“But it’s sad that two Malaysian players had to face each other in the first round when Ivan was finding his rhythm after emerging as national champion recently, but to be a champion in tournament like this you have to win all matches,” he told reporters after the match.

Malaysia’s eight seeded, Ng Eain Yow also made it to the last eight after overwhelming his opponent from Australia Rex Hendrik 11-8, 13-11, 12-10 in 45 minutes to face fourth seeded Lucas Serme of France who trounced Mazen Gamal of Eygpt 11-1, 11-5, 11-9 in the first round.

The former women’s national number two, Low Wee Wern also had no problem in setting aside the eight seeded from Hong Kong, Tong Tsz-Wing in straight sets 11-8 11-6 11-6 in 40 minutes to face second seeded Liu Tsz- Ling of Hong Kong who defeated Philippines’s Jemcya Aribado 12-14 11-4 11-4 11-4 in the first round.

“So, today obviously playing with Tsz-Wing who is top 50 in the world was quite a good match for me. It’s a great start for me but I am still not feeling very comfortable on the court and definitely it’s far from my best.

“My main goal is to actually get back to playing in the competitive games so that I can enter as much tournaments as possible. As you know, my current ranking is 256th in the world, its hard for me to enter the big tournaments after a long break due to my knee injury,” she said.