Skip to main content

Nicol Leads Malaysian Charge Into Semis

GEORGE TOWN, April 28 (Bernama) -- Malaysian squash sensation and current women's world No. 1 Datuk Nicol David led the Malaysian charge into the semi-finals of the 16th Asian Individual Squash Championships here Thursday.

Besides Nicol, Low Wee Wern, Delia Odette Arnold, Ong Beng Hee and Mohd Nafiizwan Mohd Adnan also advanced to the last four of the competition.

Nicol, who is defending her Asian title for the seventh consecutive time while gunning for her eighth title in the championships, outclassed Hong Kong's Chan Ho-Ling 11-6, 11-6, 11-7.

The 27-year-old five-time world champion, who took 31 minutes to down her opponent in straight sets, said she was glad to win the match in front of her family and friends.

"I was trying not to give too much room for her (Chan) but she still managed to play some good shots to steal points," she said during the post-match interview here Thursday.

She said she need to be cautious tomorrow as it would be a tougher encounter against Delia, who came back from 1-2 down in the fourth set to beat Dipika Pallikal of India 9-11, 11-7, 5-11, 11-5, 11-9 in an hour-long battle.

Wee Wern, ranked world number 13, swept aside team-mate Siti Munirah Jusoh 11-8, 10-12, 11-8, 11-2 to set up a semi-final date with the tournament second seed Annie Au Wing-Chi of Hong Kong Friday.

On her next game against Annie Au who defeated Song Sun Mi of South Korea 11-3, 11-6, 11-8, Wee Wern said she had never beaten her opponent in their last few meetings.

"I lost to her 3-0 in last year Korean Open but I just hope that the home crowd will cheer me on to beat her tomorrow," she said.

In the men's category, Beng Hee, ranked world number 27, beat him compatriot Elvinn Keo Jinn Chung 11-8, 11-4, 9-11 and 15-13 in 51 minutes.

After shaky performances in his last two tournaments, Beng Hee said he was hoping to play better and be more focused on his game Friday against his opponent Siddharth Suchde of India, who beat Abdullah Khalid H. Al-Mezayen of Kuwait 12-14, 11-6, 11-8, 8-11, 11-8.

"I was a bit over relax today but Elvinn did well to steal the third set from me before I regained my composure in the fourth set to end the contest," he said.

-- BERNAMA

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

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

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