HANGZHOU: The national men’s and women’s squash squads had no problems booking their semifinal spots in the team event at the Asian Games 2022 yesterday, assuring Malaysia of at least two bronze medals.
After easily disposing the Philippines and South Korea Filipina with 3-0 scorelines yesterday, the men’s squad, who are the defending champions, defeated Japan with a similar result in their Group B third match played at the Hangzhou International Expo Centre here.
Japan did not go down without a fight, however, and in the first game, Ivan Yuen had to come down from behind to beat Tomotaka Endo 6-11, 11-4, 4-11, 11-6, 11-6 in a match that lasted 63 minutes.
Ng Eain Yow then swept aside Ryunosuke Tsukue 11-7, 6-11, 13-11, 11-6, while Muhammad Addeen Idrakie Bahtiar easily defeated Naoki Hayashi 11-5, 11-6, 11-4.
Malaysia then tamed Thailand 3-0, with Muhammad Addeen only taking 13 minutes to beat Ravipun Limphaiboon 11-4, 11-1, 11-1.
Eain Yow had earlier defeated Arkaradet Arkarahirunya 11-4, 11-1, 11-4 before Mohammad Syafiq Mohd Kamal made it 3-0 with an easy 11-1, 11-1, 11-2 win over Natthapat Theerasilp to confirm Malaysia’s berth in the last four.
However, a tougher task lies ahead as the men’s squad will now face Hong Kong, who have also won four matches so far, to determine who tops the group today.
Meanwhile, the women’s squad, bronze medallists in the last edition, swept Macao aside 3-0 in Group B action, which comes after producing similar scoreline wins over Nepal and Pakistan yesterday.
Aifa Azman got the opening win, defeating Yeung Wai Leng 11-1, 11-2, 11-3. S. Sivasangari then beat Liu Kwai Chi 11-6, 11-2, 11-2, and Aira Azman made it a perfect day for the team with a 11-7, 11-2, 11-2 win over Leong Ieng Lam.
They will meet India today to determine who tops the group. – BERNAMA
