Abdulla recovers from cut on lip to edge out Leo Au

KUALA LUMPUR: Abdulla Mohd Al Tamimi (pic) of Qatar showed true grit as he marched into the men’s final in the Malaysian Open squash championships.

The world No. 33 suffered a cut on his lip after a head collision against defending champion Leo Au of Hong Kong yesterday but he did not give up.

He was 1-6 down in the fifth game but did not throw in the towel. Instead, he made a remarkable comeback to upset the top seed Leo 8-11, 11-2, 7-11, 11-9, 11-9 in a thrilling 87-minute semi-final match at the National Squash Centre.

Third seed Abdulla will face a daunting task when he meets second seed Tsz Fung Yip of Hong Kong today.

The 23-year-old Abdulla, who took timeout to stop the bleeding during the physical match was happy he persevered to reach his first-ever Professional Squash Association (PSA) final.

“My face hit the back of his head during the match and it resulted in a lip injury. The game was stopped and I had about 10 minutes to recover. I know if I bleed again I’ll lose the game,” said Abdulla.

“I felt better after the break and I was motivated to play better.”

“It was also good that I won after trailing 1-6 in the fifth. I knew I had a chance as I had beaten him in a similar fashion before. I was 1-7 down in another tournament but bounced back to beat him.”

Abdulla has set his sight to winning his first title of the year and hopes to fully recover from the draining match.

“I just hope to recover quickly. I’ve been training hard and I’ve been through this before. I feel good mentally.”

“This is definitely my biggest final so far and I hope I can show up big tomorrow.”