Eain yow and Sivasangari on course for glory
NATIONAL juniors Ng Eain Yow and S. Sivasangari both stayed on track for their first Sukma individual squash gold medals.
Yesterday, the 18-year-old Eain Yow was at his devastating best as he breezed past Sabah’s Mohd Farez Izwan 11-5, 11-5, 11-8 in the men’s semi-finals at the Sarawak Squash Centre.
Representing the Federal Territories (FT), Eain Yow was also in mean mood in the quarter-finals as he ousted homester Timothy Ling 11-7, 11-6, 11-7 in an earlier match.
The three-time British Junior Open winner, who was eliminated in the semi-finals in his first Sukma in Perlis two years ago, will take on Kelantan’s Mohd Syafiq Kamal in the final.
Top seed Syafiq also put up a strong showing to beat Pahang’s Darren Chan 11-9, 11-5, 11-7 in the other semi-final.
“Farez wasn’t moving so well today because he had a slight hamstring pull and I made the best out of it,” said world No. 149 Eain Yow.
“It won’t be easy against Syafiq in the final. I’ve played him so many times and it has always been a close affair,” added Eain Yow.
In the women’s semi-finals, 17-year-old Sivasangari of Kedah defeated FT’s Rachel Arnold 11-9, 11-7, 11-5 to set up a final clash with defending champion Vanessa Raj of Penang.
“I want the gold medal but it will be tough because I’ve never beaten her before,” said Sivasangari.
Hosts Sarawak had much to cheer about after Jess Tay-Marcus Sim delivered a top-notch performance to storm into the men’s doubles final.
Jess-Marcus, the sixth seeds, rode on the home crowd support to stun second seeds Bryan LimMohd Hannan Tarmidi 4-11, 11-6, 11-5.
They will meet top seeds Andrew Lee-Shyan Kwan of FT in today’s final.
The women’s doubles final will be between Kedah’s Aika AzmanNazihah Hanis and Terengganu’s Nurina Najib-Syarifah Nur Aisha.