Syafiq out to make it two in a row at SRAM PSA meet

KUALA LUMPUR: One down and one more to go for national No. 5 squash player Mohd Syafiq Kamal.

On Sunday, the third seeded Kota Baru player upset top seed Aditya Jagtap of India to win the Squash Racquets Association of Malaysia (SRAM) PSA 1 tournament at the National Squash Centre in Bukit Jalil.

The win has whetted Syafiq’s appetite and he is aiming to make it two in a row at the SRAM PSA 2 tournament (April 23) where he is the top seed.

The 22-year-old Syafiq, who turned pro in 2013, said he won’t waste the chance to win back-to- back titles.

“I’ve been struggling since last year due to a hip injury but with the win over Aditya, it has really boosted my confidence.

“Since turning pro, I’ve only won five PSA titles and I need to do much better to improve on my world rankings,” said Syafiq, who is ranked 95th.

Syafiq, whose highest ranking was 84, wants to break into the top 70 by the end of this year.

“And to do that I need to win more PSA tournaments. I had a good start this year by reaching the semi-finals of the Hong Kong Challenge Cup in January and last month I reached the quarter-finals of the Lethbridge Pro-Am in Canada,” added Syafiq.

He said winning the second SRAM PSA tournament would put him in good stead for the Asian Individual Championships in Bukit Jalil from May 1-5.

“This is the first time I’ll be competing in the Asian meet and I want to put up a strong challenge.

“Last year, I helped Malaysia win gold in the team event at the Jakarta Asian Games and hopefully this year I want to leave an impression in the Asian meet,” said Syafiq.

The other Malaysians for the meet are national No. 1 Ng Eain Yow, Nafiizwan Adnan, Ivan Yuen, Mohd Addeen Idrakie and Ong Sai Hung.