Skip to main content

Squash: Azlan emerges top

PETALING JAYA: Mohd Azlan Iskandar bagged his second Professional Squash Association (PSA) of the year, the 13th of his career, when he beat Spaniard Borja Golan in the final of the Irish Open on Saturday.
The world No. 14 won 11-9, 8-11, 9-11, 13-11, 11-5 in a match against the 2006 champion that lasted for 100 minutes.

After winning the first set, the Malaysian Open champion found himself on the back foot when he trailed Golan 1-5 in the opening minutes of the second set.

Although the Sarawakian managed to level 8-8, Golan, a former world No. 10 now ranked in 83rd spot after a knee surgery hampered his career last year, proved to be too strong and took the set.

On a roll: Mohd Azlan Iskandar bagged his second PSA title of the year after he beat Borja Golan in Irish Open final on Saturday.
 
Azlan was again unlucky in the third set and failed to stop Golan from drawing level at 8-8 and then allowing the Spaniard to win it at 11-9 win.

“I was a bit unlucky in the second and third sets. A few bad tactical shots got me in trouble against Golan,” he said in a telephone interview. “But my luck was better in the fourth set.”

Golan had the match point at 10-9 in the fourth set but Azlan refused to let slip and stretched the game to 11-11. Two errors from Golan gave away the set at 13-11 and the match went into a decider.
Seemingly tired from the toils of the match, Golan was unable to stave off challenges from Azlan, who remained strong to take the set convincingly at 11-5.

In the women’s competition, Madeline Perry of Ireland defeated Vanessa Atkinson of Holland 13-11, 11-7, 11-6 in 44 minutes. It was her first victory against Atkinson in seven meetings.

The win on Saturday marked the fourth Irish Open title for Perry, having won in three consecutive tournaments from 2005.


By SHAMSHUL FITRI


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Ex-coach's jail sentence cut to a year

PUTRAJAYA: The Court of Appeal yesterday sentenced former athletics coach C. Ramanathan to 12 months' jail for molesting two junior athletes 19 years ago. A three-man bench led by Datuk Mohd Hishamudin Mohd Yunus unanimously dismissed Ramanathan's appeal against conviction, but varied the jail sentence of four years to a year, which was to run concurrently. Following yesterday's ruling, Ramanathan, 75, a former teacher, walked out a free man as he had served 10 months in Kajang Prison. Convicts get one-third remission for good behaviour while in prison. However, he will lose his pension. Hishamudin, who sat with Datuk Abdul Wahab Patail and Datuk Linton Albert, said the court found no merit to overturn the conviction. "However, in reducing the sentence, we considered Ramanathan's age and the long years the appeal has taken." Deputy public prosecutor Awang Armadajaya Awang Mahmud submitted that then High Court judge Tan Sri Abdull Hamid E...
2 comments
Read more

Rajagobal Let Off The Hook

PETALING JAYA, April 24 (Bernama) -- National head coach Datuk K. Rajagobal was let off the hook by the Football Association of Malaysia's (FAM) Disciplinary Committee after finding no evidence that he had violated FAM's Article 88, as claimed. FAM Disciplinary Committee chairman Datuk Taufik Abdul Razak said the committee had decided not to charge Rajagobal after carefully analysing the video of the post-match press conference by the 56-year-old coach. "After listening to the recording of the post-match press conference, we decided to drop the charge against Rajagopal as he did not make such a statement. "Maybe his (Rajagobal) assessment and comments of the match was misconstrued by the media. There was no mention of the FAM policy throughout his comments," said Taufik after emerging from a three-hour Disciplinary Committee meeting at Wisma FAM in Kelana Jaya, here, Wednesday. Rajagobal who does not mince his words when asked to com...
4 comments
Read more

Govt Always Gives Emphasis To Sporting Culture, Says PM

KUALA TERENGGANU, May 29 (Bernama) -- Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badaw i said the government always gives emphasis on cultivating a strong sporting culture in achieving excellence at the international level. As such, the Prime Minister said, it was important to scout for young talents in sports. "I observe that the Malaysia Games (Sukma) has become one of the important platforms to do so. "In this arena, the potentials and skills of the youngsters can be identified for development so that they can achieve greater success in sports," he said in his message in the souvenir book of the 12th Sukma from May 31 until June 9. Abdullah said he was aware that competition in sports was very keen and challenging but this did not mean that Malaysian athletes were incapable of competing at the international level. "The fact is that we have all the characteristics required to be excellent. We must inculcate a strong fighting spirit so that we don't easily surrender,...
1 comment
Read more