Sivasangari proves it again
THE world rankings may say otherwise but for all intents and purposes, S. Sivasangari is the country’s second-best woman’s squash player after winning an eighth PSA Tour title in Bukit Jalil yesterday.
Sivasangari defeated National Championships runner-up Rachel Arnold for the second time in as many months to win the Malaysian Squash Tour’s 11th leg title with an 11-6, 11-4, 8-11, 114 win at the National Squash Centre.
The victory comes just a month after Sivasangari denied Rachel a second straight Sea Games individual gold medal, proving her win then was no fluke.
Though World No 61 Sivasangari is ranked 11 places below Rachel, the 18-year-old from Kedah is playing well enough to suggest that she is the country’s No 2 player behind eight-time world champion Nicol David.
“I have beaten her twice in the last two months but it’s not for me to say I’m No 2 although I’m almost there,” said Sivasangari after claiming a second consecutive PSA Tour title following her win in Beijing last week.
“Beating Rachel does give me confidence and I have been playing well lately. I had a good tournament in France but now I’m looking towards bigger tournaments.
“I have two more coming up including the Malaysian Open next month so I hope to do well there.”
Prior to winning the Beijing Challenge Cup, Sivasangari reached the Nantes Open quarter-finals after stunning world junior champion and World No 48 Rowan Reda Araby of Egypt in the first round.
Rachel, 21, was denied her third PSA Tour title and second of 2017 after winning the ninth leg at the Royal Lake Club in May.
It was also Rachel’s second defeat to a Malaysian junior after losing to Andrea Lee in the 10th leg final at Jalan Duta last week though she avenged that loss in Thursday’s semi-finals.
The men’s final, also an allMalaysian affair, saw Syafiq Kamal edge Addeen Idrakie Bahtiar 11-9, 4-11, 7-11, 11-8, 15-13 after saving three match points.
“It has always been close between us and this is an important win for me in terms of confidence and ranking points,” said World No 97 Syafiq in winning a second career PSA Tour title after his first in October last year.
The victory comes after two near misses for Syafiq recently in losing the Sea Games singles final to Ng Eain Yow last month and the 10th leg final to India’s Harinder Pal Singh Sandhu last week.