HANGZHOU – The national women’s squash team put on a classy display to wrest the Asian Games team title by stunning reigning champions Hong Kong 2-1 in the final today.
Although top-seeded Hong Kong initially took the lead by scoring the first point in the tense final, the national squash team manager, Nafzahizam Adnan, expressed his profound relief as the squad successfully completed the mission, securing the contingent’s third gold medal.
“Overall, the players were outstanding, they outclassed their opponents. Aifa’s outstanding ability to apply pressure against Chan Sin Yuk ultimately secured the team’s victory.
“The gold medal win undeniably served as a powerful motivator for everyone on the team. While the pressure to deliver the medal was certainly present, we channelled it into a positive force that fueled the team’s spirit,” he said after the match.
Credit to Malaysia’s world number 32 Rachel Arnold for giving it everything in a 50-minute titanic tussle against Tong Tsz Wing before going down 11-7, 7-11, 11-8, 8-11, 6-11.
However, world number 36 S. Sivasangari rose to the occasion to produce a dominant performance en route to routing Ho Tze Lok 11-5, 11-8, 11-6 to level the points.
That set the stage for 21-year-old Aifa Azman to get the job done and the world number 23 did not disappoint as she outplayed Chan Sin Yuk 11-5, 11-8, 11-13, 11-8 to deliver the country’s third gold in Hangzhou.
The Malaysian girls qualified for the final after eliminating South Korea 2-0 in the semi-finals yesterday.
Malaysia, led by former great Datuk Nicol David, won the gold in Guangzhou in 2010 when the team event was introduced and repeated the feat in the 2014 edition in South Korea’s Incheon.
Malaysia, however, had to be satisfied with just the bronze medal in the 2018 edition in Indonesia’s Jakarta and Palembang, after losing to India in the semi-finals.
Meanwhile, the national men’s team failed to defend the gold medal they won in the 2018 edition after losing 2-0 to India in the semi-finals yesterday and had to be content with bronze this time. – September 30, 2023