Walls to break through
Sivasangari faces stern test at London squash classic
JAYA: National squash player S. Sivasangari has a tough campaign ahead of her at the London Squash Classic starting today.
The inaugural women’s event at the tournament sees top players eyeing the US$108,500 (RM512,074) prize purse while world No. 16 Sivasangari will start in the second round after getting a first-round bye at the PSA Gold-level event.
After she takes on the winner between England’s Grace Gear and Katie Malliff in the second round, Sivasangari could find herself face-to-face with world No. 1 Egyptian Nour Elsherbini in the quarter-finals.
Sivasangari was expected to meet Fayrouz Aboelkheir in Egypt in the second round but following compatriot Rowan Elaraby’s withdrawal, Aboelkhier moved into the top eight seed and received a first-round bye.
An opponent she has yet to conquer, Sivasangari has lost the previous two encounters with top seed Elsherbini.
Both meetings were at the quarter-finals, with the most recent coming at the Florida Open in January where Elsherbini went on to win the title.
Meanwhile, in the men’s category, national player Ng Eain Yow starts his campaign against India’s Ramit Tandon in the first round.
Currently ranked 22nd, Eain Yow will be looking to improve on his previous outing at the tournament, where he crashed out in the second round after being defeated by Ali Farag of Egypt.
It will be the first time Eain Yow plays the world No. 38 Indian player. If he manages to clear his firstround hurdle, Eain Yow will set up a meeting with fifth-ranked Egyptian Karim Abdel Gawad.
Eain Yow recently dropped in the rankings from No. 19 to No. 21 after his quarter-final exit at the Squash in the Land tournament in Cleveland earlier this month.
The Asian Games gold medallist has also been training with national player C. Ameeshenraj ahead of the 20-year-old’s outing at the Liverpool Cricket Club Open that started yesterday.