Heartbreak in France
Malaysia go down fighting to Scotland in last 16
PETALING JAYA: Scotland have crushed Malaysia’s quarter-final hopes in the Men’s World Team Squash Championship.
The Scots secured a hardfought 2-1 win over the Malaysians in the last-16 in Marseille, France, on Thursday.
Ng Eain Yow, the 2016 world junior champion, failed to get the ball rolling for Malaysia when he lost 9-11, 11-5, 9-11, 7-11 to Scotland’s second stringer Greg Lobban.
Nafiizwan Adnan revived Malaysia’s hopes with a 74-minute come-from-behind 11-7, 1-11, 8-11, 11-3, 11-8 win over Scottish No. 1 Alan Clyne.
The 10th-seeded Scots then clinched a spot in the quarter-finals when Douglas Kempsell prevailed 11-3, 3-11, 11-5, 10-12, 11-6 over Mohd Syafiq Kamal in the decider.
Ninth-seeded Malaysia reached the last 16 as winners of Group H after upsetting eighth seeds India 2-1 and downing Austria 3-0.
Malaysia will now play in the classification rounds and can only finish ninth, at best.
Malaysia, powered by Ong Beng Hee and Azlan Iskandar, finished eighth in the 2013 edition in Mulhouse, France.
The 2015 edition in Cairo, Egypt, was cancelled due to security concerns.
“All the teams are good at this stage. The Scottish boys were hard and aggressive players. We expected them to come at us.
“The team would have been stronger if we had national champion Ivan Yuen (who pulled out from the meet with chest pain), but I’m still proud of our boys,” said team manager Major (Rtd) S. Maniam.
The Scots will be hard-pressed to advance further as they’ll be up against top seeds Egypt in the last eight.
India managed to advance to the last eight with a 2-1 win over Germany.
India will play defending champions and second seeds England.
Hosts France, led by world No. 1 Gregory Gaultier, are also through to the quarter-finals after a 3-0 win over Wales.