Eain Yow believes he’s close to landing a major title

PETALING JAYA: Spurred on by a series of impressive performances, national squash player Ng Eain Yow (pic) believes he is getting closer to clinching a major title.

The 20-year-old’s game looks to have gone up a notch when he forced one-time world champion Karim Abdel Gawad to five sets before losing 11-9, 13-12, 3-11, 4-11, 4-11 in the second round of the Qatar Classic two weeks ago.

The 2016 world junior champion seemed a class above as he took 5-1 and 8-3 leads in the first and second games respectively and remained calm to stave off comebacks by Karim to take a 2-0 lead.

Eain Yow looked like he was heading to a shock win but Karim bounced back and turned the tables on the Malaysian.

In the first round, Eain Yow stunned homester and favourite Abdulla Al Tamimi 11-3, 8-11, 11-9, 11-5.

“I did prepare myself to play well against them and I’m happy with the results in the Qatar Classic. I just believed in myself and told myself that I can start beating players ranked above me,” said Eain Yow.

Now Eain Yow will start his quest to earn a major title when his Qatar Open campaign gets under way in Doha today.

He has a first-round bye and will play either England’s Joshua Masters or Qatar’s Rashib Al-Harib in the second round. And if he wins, he will most likely face top seed Omar Mosaad of Egypt.

“I’ve been playing quite well lately and it definitely gives me confidence to do well in the Qatar Open.

“But it’s a tough tournament with it being a Bronze event. I’ll approach it one match at a time and go from there.”