Darren still finds the fun in squash while relying on own funds to keep career going

PETALING JAYA: Darren Rahul (pic), despite being dropped from the Podium Programme in December last year, has been enjoying his squash in recent months where he is more focused on performance rather than results.

The Bristol-based Darren will be playing in the Asian qualifiers, which begins at the Jalan Duta courts today, where he will be battling against higher ranked players in his bid to secure a place in the World Championships in Cairo from May 9-18.

Darren, 25, has been relying on his own funds and prize money earnings to continue his professional career and has no intention of hanging up his racquet any time soon.

“I had the funding from the Squash Racquets Association of Malaysia (SRAM) for about seven years but now I’m virtually on my own but it’s still a long way to go,” said Darren, who is pursuing his Masters degree in sports psychology at the University of West England (UWE) in Bristol.

“I’ve started enjoying my squash and some good results prior to the Asian Qualifiers and looking forward to the tournament this week.

“What is important for me now is to focus on improving my performance without being overly concerned about the results.

“Playing at the World Championships is the goal of every professional player and I will be chasing that this weekend.

“What is more important is that I want to continue progressing and to qualify for the World Championships on merit.”

Darren, ranked world No. 127, must break into the top 57 based on current requirements to qualify on merit for the World Championships. That will require him to improve on his results and start winning Professional Squash Association (PSA) challenger tour titles.

Prior to the Asian Qualifiers, Darren won the 3k RFC Open in Colchester and reached the semi-finals of the 12k Odense Open in Denmark last month.

Japan’s Ryunosuke Tsukue, the world No. 59, is the top seed at the Asian qualifiers. Malaysian world No. 66 Addeen Idrakie is seeded second while Syafiq Kamal and Darren are the other Malaysians seeded sixth and seventh respectively.

Darren feels it’s an open field and anyone has the chance to win the title.

“Being the top seed, Tsukue is the player to beat and there are several others ranked higher than me but it is an open field. Quite a few have the chance to go all the way,” added Darren.

“The tournament offers a lot of ranking points and the winner will play in the World Championships.

“However, I would rather take it one match at a time and do as well as I can and keep progressing.”

Darren opens his campaign against world No. 245 Ammar Altamimi of Kuwait while Addeen will meet Leo Chung of Hong Kong in their opening matches today.

Ong Sai Hung, Bryan Lim and Hafiz Zhafri Abdul Harif are the other Malaysians who will be playing at the Asian Qualifiers.

In the women’s event, fourth seed Chan Yiwen will be Malaysia’s best bet to earn a ticket to the world meet and will begin her campaign against Akari Midorikawa of Japan in the first round today.

Gho Zi Xuan, K. Sehveetrraa, U. Thanusaa and Yu Jie are the other Malaysians in the women’s draw.