Squash / Irish Open: And now for Asian Games gold

Azlan Iskandar (left) and Madeline Perry pose with the trophy after winning the Irish Open men’s and women’s title on Saturday.

NOT quite satisfied with winning two PSA Tour titles and an Asian Championship crown, Azlan Iskandar wants to turn 2010 into a truly memorable year. The Irish Open which Azlan won on Saturday, is just the appetiser as he sets his sights on winning an Asian Games gold medal, a Commonwealth Games medal of any colour and to break into the world's top 10 for the first time.

Being injury-free this year has allowed Azlan to keep his mind firmly focused on his squash and he has begun to reap the rewards.

"Well my targets (for now) have been achieved but I still want to get into the top-10, win a Commonwealth Games medal and the Asian Games gold.
"The next two weeks will be nothing but hard training and then I'll take the time to relax before the Commonwealth Games," said Azlan, 28, in an online interview from Dublin yesterday.

The Commonwealth Games in New Delhi on Oct 3-14 will be followed by the Guangzhou Asian Games in November while major PSA tournaments in Kuwait, Qatar, India and the World Open in Saudi Arabia in the last two months of 2010 will help the World No 14 Azlan achieve his dream of reaching the top-10.

Azlan's Irish victory did not come easy as he had to save two match balls in the fourth game before rallying for an 11-9, 8-11, 9-11, 13-11, 11-5 win over Spaniard Borja Golan in a marathon final which took an hour and 40 minutes.

Qualifier Golan, a top-10 player before major knee surgery sidelined him for almost a year, was 10-9 and 11-10 up in the fourth only to concede a stroke and a tin to let Azlan back in.

The physical nature of the match finally took its toll on Golan as Azlan ran away with the deciding game, never looking back once he held a 7-3 lead.

"It was a tight match. I could and should have won it in three (games).

"I was a little bit unlucky in that sense but a win is a win," said the top-seeded Azlan, who also won the Malaysian Open in July.

"I honestly don't remember I was match ball down as I was just focused on playing the game.

"It was good to win the fourth and when I went 7-2 up, I knew I had it in the bag."

Madeline Perry lived up to her top billing to clinch the women's title with a 13-11, 11-7, 11-6 win over Vanessa Atkinson of the Netherlands in a major boost ahead of the World Open on Sept 18-22 and the Commonwealth Games where she will represent Northern Ireland.


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