Aifa has eyes on Malaysian Tour crown
junior Aifa Azman edged closer to her second professional title after reaching the final of the Malaysian Tour’s fourth leg at the Royal Lake Club yesterday.
British Junior Open champion Aifa, who won the second leg for her maiden PSA Tour title last month, set up an all-Malaysian women’s final with Lai Wen Li after beating fellow national junior Chan Yiwen 11-6, 11-0, 11-5.
Wen Li, also a national junior, made it to her first PSA Tour final with an 11-6, 6-11, 11-5, 11-8 win over teammate Ma SiYi.
The men’s final is an all-Hong Kong affair between the top two seeds Tan Ming Hong and Lau TszKwan.
Ming Hong defeated Malaysia’s 2007 Sea Games gold medallistElvinnKeo 11-5, 11-6, 11-6 while TszKwan downed Pakistan’s Syed Ali Mujtaba 11-2, 12-14, 12-10, 11-5 in the semi-finals.
Meanwhile, the country’s top two men’s players Nafiizwan Adnan and Ng Eain Yow made first round exits at their respective events on Thursday.
Both players were making their 2018 debut with national No 1 Nafiizwan beaten 11-13, 11-9, 11-8, 11-4 by New Zealand’s Paul Coll at the Swedish Open in Linkoping.
Nafiizwan earlier defeated Swede Carl Remle and England’s Ben Coleman in the qualifying rounds to make the main draw.
World No 47 Eain Yow was bundled out of the Indian Open in Mumbai 11-5, 13-11, 11-9 by Egyptian fifth seed Karim Ali Fathi while qualifier Adreen Idrakie Bahtiar fell 13-11, 11-6, 11-9 to Scottish third seed Greg Lobban.
Sea Games singles gold medal winner S. Sivasangari lost a hardfought battle with Egyptian fourth seed Mariam Metwally 115, 9-11, 9-11, 12-10, 12-10 in the first round of the Cincinnati Gaynor Cup in Ohio.