Our men charge ahead
Malaysia down Austria to march into knockout stage in world team meet
PETALING JAYA: Malaysia downed Austria 3-0 to advance to the knockout stage of the Men’s World Team Squash Championship in Marseille, France, as Group H winners.
National No. 1 Nafiizwan Adnan toiled for 54 minutes before beating Aqeel Rehman 8-11, 11-8, 9-11, 11-3, 11-4 to deliver the first point yesterday.
Ng Eain Yow, the 2016 world junior champion, delivered the winning point for Malaysia with an 11-7, 11-6, 7-11, 11-7 win over Jakob Dirnberger.
Debutant Adreen Idrakie, playing with no pressure, cruised past Lukas Windischberger 11-7, 11-2, 11-5.
It was Malaysia’s second win in the group after stunning Asian rivals India 2-1 in the opening tie on Tuesday.
Eighth seeds India were looking to secure top spot in Pool H after beating Austria 3-0 on Monday, but the young ninth-seeded Malaysian team gave it their all as they had nothing to lose.
Nafiizwan set the tone against India by coming from 6-9 down in the fifth game to stun world No. 21 Saurav Ghosal 11-8, 8-11, 5-11, 11-4, 11-9 in the opening match.
Syafiq Kamal, making his debut in the tournament, could not build on the promising start as world No. 69 Mahesh Mangaonkar levelled the tie at 1-1 with an 8-11, 11-8, 11-5, 11-5 win.
Eain Yow then rose to the occasion to beat Harinder Pal Singh Sandhu 11-7, 5-11, 8-11, 11-6, 11-5 for the winning point.
The win avenged their 2-0 loss to India in the 2014 Asian Games team final in Incheon, South Korea. Then, Saurav and Harinder registered shock victories over Ong Beng Hee and Azlan Iskandar.
“With our national No. 2 Ivan Yuen out with injury, we arrived in Marseille with a slightly weakened team but Nafiizwan and Eain Yow were outstanding.
“Both were absolutely focused and lived up to our expectations,” said Malaysian team manager Major (Rtd) S. Maniam.
Having topped the group, Malaysia can expect an easier route to the quarter-finals as they are likely to meet Scotland in the last 16 today.