SOBHY SISTERS DOWN MALAYSIA

Nicol and Co finish sixth in world meet

MALAYSIA ended up sixth in the Women’s World Team Championship following a 20 loss to the United States at the Xi-Gang Stadium, in Dalian, China yesterday.

The result was a repeat of their sixth placing two years ago,

Aifa Azman was given the responsibility of playing the first singles against American Sabrina Sobhy. The 17-year-old lost 11-5, 15-13, 11-8 in 23 minutes.

Former World No 1 and newly crowned Asian Games champion Nicol David was the next to take to the court.

But she fell to Sabrina’s elder sister Amanda, 6-11, 11-9, 11-3, 12-10, and this resulted in the USA taking an unassailable 2-0 led.

The third singles between S. Sivasangari and Reeham Sedky was not played.

The national team had on Saturday beaten Canada 3-0 in their first classification tie after losing 2-1 to France in the quarter-finals.

Egypt successfully defended their title with a 2-0 win over England in the final. Nouran Gohar delivered Egypt’s opening point with a 11-9, 11-9, 6-11, 7-11, 11-7 win over Alison Waters while Raneel El Welily sealed the win by defeating Laura Massaro 11-3, 11-8, 9-11, 11-3.