Ivan ready to put in more time for squash

KUALA LUMPUR: The time has come for Ivan Yuen to step up to the plate.

After years of letting his squash career take a backseat to his studies, the national No. 3 expects things to change for the better – soon.

For a start, Ivan has been training under former national No. 1 Ong Beng Hee for the last one month.

Next up is featuring in more Professional Squash Association (PSA) tournaments this year as he will be done with his studies.

Ivan, who will be completing his business degree at Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM) soon, turned pro eight years ago but has won just three PSA titles because of his studies.

His three PSA titles thus far are the Indian Challenger Series in Chennai in 2009 and two Malaysian Squash Tour Series (SSJM) circuits last year.

He is ranked 85th in the world. Other Asian players who turned pro later than him are already ranked way higher.

“I’ve focused more on my studies, but the time has come for me to play in more PSA tournaments ... starting from next month, as I’ll be completing my course soon,” said former Asian junior champion Ivan.

He has already lined up a few tournaments in the coming months – the SSJM circuit in Kangar next month as well as the Indian circuit in Chennai in September and the Macau Open.

Ivan is also happy to be training under former national player and good friend Beng Hee.

“I’ll be able to further improve my game by sparring with him,” said Ivan, who also wants to attend short training stints in England.

“It’s better than being based there full-time. I will train in England when I go to Europe for tournaments.”

Ivan is also determined to break into top 40 of the world rankings by the end of next year, saying: “It’ll be tough but not impossible.”