M’sia upset Asian rival India in Marseille

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia recorded a surprise 2-1 win over Asian rival India in the World Squash Federation (WSF) Men’s World Team Squash Championship in Marseille, France Tuesday night.

National number one player Mohd Nafiizwan Adnan began the charge by defeating world number 21, Saurav Ghosal for a first time, with a 11-8, 8-11, 5-11, 11-4, 11-9, in 72 minutes, in a Pool H match.

Eighth seed India fought back via Mahesh Mangaonkar, who defeated 21-year-old debutant Mohd Syafiq Kamal, 8-11, 11-8, 11-5, 11-5 in 53 minutes, said the WSF’s official website, www.worldsquash. org.

However, another debutant, Ng Eain Yow, 19, sealed victory for ninth seed Malaysia, beating the experienced Harinder Pal Singh Sandhu, 28, 11-7, 5-11, 8-11, 11-6, 11-5 in 62 minutes.

Team manager, Major (rtd) S. Maniam, who is also the Squash Racquets Association of Malaysia (SRAM) director of coaching, was delighted by the win.

“With our number two (Ivan Yuen) out with an injury, we arrived in Marseille with a slightly weakened team, but Nafiizwan and Eain Yow were outstanding today.

Nafiizwan was focused and faced an experienced opponent in Saurav. As for Eain Yow, what can I say! He played another very experienced player and truly lived up to our expectations.

“We were expecting a good, hard fight. Hari simply could not find the answer in the fifth,” he was quoted as saying by WSF.

Malaysia will next meet with Austria, eyeing to secure another win to finish top of the table. Austria went down to India 3-0 in the opening match on Monday. – Bernama