Sivasangari packs off second seed Annie to reach the semis

DEBUTANT S. Sivasangari (pic) clinched her biggest career win by knocking out second seed Annie Au of Hong Kong in the Indonesia Asiad.

The teenager ranked No. 44 in the world proved that she deserved the spot in the women’s singles event and lived up to expectations after stunning world No. 11 Annie 119, 1113, 115, 311, 115 in the quarterfinals at the Gelora Bung Karno Squash Stadium yesterday.

She will accompany defending champion Datuk Nicol David (wom en’s singles) and national

No. 1 Mohd Nafiizwan Adnan (men’s singles) in the semifinals at the same venue today.

Sivasangari will take on third seed Joshna Chinnapa of India in the semifinal clash.

Nicol, who is on the hunt for her fifth singles gold medal, inched closer to the final by downing Japan’s Satomi Watanabe 116, 114, 113 in the quarterfinals yesterday to set up a meeting against India’s Dipika Palikal.

Although the Penangite has never lost to Dipika, she said she would just “focus on her game rather than her opponent.”

“Reaching the semifinal is special. I’m happy with how I played today and I’m really starting to fire up and I’m excited about tomorrow ( today),” said Nicol.

“All the preparations are done in training. This is my sixth Asiad, so I’m used to the expectations and I just want to enjoy my matches and take one match at a time.”

Ivan Yuen is the sole Malaysian who failed to advance to the semis after losing 112, 117, 114 to Hong Kong’s Leo Au in their men’s singles quarterfinal clash.

Fifth seed Nafiizwan overcame fourth seed Al Tamimi Abdulla of Qatar 119, 1210, 911, 115, 119 to meet second seed Max Lee of Hong Kong in the semis.