Rachel faces steep hurdle in bid to extend unbeaten run

PETALING JAYA: High-riding squash player Rachel Arnold (pic) will have to pull out all the stops at the Women’s World Championships in Cairo which starts tomorrow.

Having struggled with inconsistency since the start of the year, the 23-year-old has hit her stride at an opportune moment.

The world No. 43 is on a high after lifting the Indian Open last week and the Malaysian Open titles last month.

“I’m feeling confident after winning two consecutive titles right before the worlds, but I’m not going to get ahead of myself,” said Rachel.

“I came here (Egypt) a bit earlier, so hopefully this will help me get a good feel of the courts when the tournament starts,” added Rachel.

She is hoping to extend her eightmatch unbeaten run in Egypt but that will be difficult as she opens her campaign against the hosts’ world No. 15 Salma Hany.

“I’ve only played Salma once and I lost. So this time, I’m going to go in, bring out my best game and get an upset.”

But don’t rule her out as she has stunned higher-ranked opponents. Among those on the receiving end are teammate Low Wee Wern (No. 34) and Egypt’s Rowan Elaraby (No. 26) en route to the Malaysian Open title.

“As for my condition, I feel a lot fitter and prepared and that will help me a lot in Cairo.”

The draw has not been kind to our players as Wee Wern, S. Sivasangari and Aifa Azman also have tough first-round opponents.

Wee Wern, who is still nursing a knee injury picked up at the Malaysian Open, takes on world No. 5 Nouran Gohar of Egypt while Sivasangari (48th) is up against world No. 8 Amanda Sobhy from the United States.

Aifa (89th) is not expected to make a memorable debut as she faces Joey Chan (17th) of Hong Kong.