Asian
Squash Championships, Chennai, India
Honours Shared In Asian
Championships
While
Malaysia made a clean sweep of the individual titles in the Asian Squash
Championships, it was Pakistan and Hong Kong that came away
with the team titles in the 15th staging of the event at the Indian Squash
Academy in Chennai, India.
Top seed
Mohd Azlan Iskandar beat Pakistan's 3/4 seed Aamir Atlas Khan 11-8,
11-4, 3-0 (ret.) in the men's individual final to win the title for the second
year in a row – and keep the trophy in Malaysian hands since 2000.
In the
fifth women's final featuring Nicol David and Rebecca Chiu, it was
Malaysia's world number one Nicol David who prevailed - extending her remarkable
hold on the title to seven successive wins since 1998 by beating her Hong Kong
rival, the second seed, 11-6, 11-7, 11-7.
But Hong
Kong took their revenge in the women's team event – first defeating top
seeds Malaysia in the semi-finals before toppling hosts India, the
third seeds, 2/0 in the final.
After
Joey Chan put Hong Kong ahead by beating India's 15-year-old Anaka
Alankamony 7-11, 11-1, 11-9, 11-7, Chiu clinched the title after overcoming
Indian number one Joshna Chinappa 11-7, 11-2, 11-5.
After
finishing as runners-up in the past three championships, Hong Kong won the title
for the first time since 2000 – ending Malaysia's four-championship-winning run.
Hosts
India narrowly lost out to Malaysia 2/1 in the men's team semi-finals
– but it was second seeds Pakistan that prevailed in the final, beating
the favourites 2/0.
Yasir
Butt put the former champions in the
driving seat with an 11-5, 7-11, 11-4, 11-5 victory over Malaysian Mohd
Nafiizwan Adnan before top-ranked Pakistani Aamir Atlas Khan avenged
his defeat in the individual final by beating higher-ranked Mohd Azlan
Iskandar 11-8, 11-9, 13-11.
The result
gave Pakistan their first championship win since 2004.
Men's
quarter-finals:
[1] Mohd
Azlan Iskandar (MAS) bt [9/16] Abdullah Almezayen (KUW) 13-11, 11-7, 12-10 (50m)
[3/4]
Saurav Ghosal (IND) bt [5/8] Farhan Mehboob (PAK) 11-7, 11-1, 11-7 (36m)
[3/4] Aamir
Atlas Khan (PAK) bt [5/8] Mohd Nafiizwan Adnan (MAS) 12-10, 11-8, 11-5 (35m)
[5/8] Yasir
Butt (PAK) bt [2] Ong Beng Hee (MAS) 10-12, 11-8, 11-8, 11-9 (60m)
Semi-finals:
[1] Mohd
Azlan Iskandar (MAS) bt [3/4] Saurav Ghosal (IND) 11-5, 11-6, 11-5 (44m)
[3/4] Aamir
Atlas Khan (PAK) bt [5/8] Yasir Butt (PAK) 11-6, 11-7, 11-0 (31m)
Final:
[1] Mohd
Azlan Iskandar (MAS) bt [3/4] Aamir Atlas Khan (PAK) 11-8, 11-4, 3-0 ret. (30m)
Women's
quarter-finals:
[1] Nicol
David (MAS) bt [9/16] Song Sun-Mi (KOR) 11-4, 11-7, 11-7 (24m)
[9/16]
Dipika Pallikal (IND) bt [9/16] Misaki Kobayashi (JPN) 12-10, 11-8, 11-6 (32m)
[5/8] Joey
Chan (HKG) bt [3/4] Delia Arnold (MAS) 11-4, 11-4, 11-6 (28m)
[2] Rebecca
Chiu (HKG) bt [5/8] Joshna Chinappa (IND) 11-5, 11-13, 11-7, 11-6 (39m)
Semi-finals:
[1] Nicol
David (MAS) bt [9/16] Dipika Pallikal (IND) 11-5, 11-5, 11-2 (23m)
[2] Rebecca
Chiu (HKG) bt [5/8] Joey Chan (HKG) 11-7, 11-9, 5-11, 15-17, 11-4 (46m)
Final:
[1] Nicol
David (MAS) bt [2] Rebecca Chiu (HKG) 11-6, 11-7, 11-7 (24m)
Men's
Team semi-finals:
[1]
MALAYSIA bt [3] INDIA 2/1
[2]
PAKISTAN bt [4] KUWAIT 2/0
Final:
[2]
PAKISTAN bt [1] MALAYSIA 2/0
Yasir
Butt bt Mohd Nafiizwan Adnan 11-5, 7-11, 11-4, 11-5 (42m)
Aamir
Atlas Khan bt Mohd Azlan Iskandar 11-8, 11-9, 13-11 (42m)
Women's
Team semi-finals:
[2] HONG
KONG bt [1] MALAYSIA 2/1
[3] INDIA
bt [4] SOUTH KOREA 2/0
Final:
[2] HONG
KONG bt [3] INDIA 2/0
Joey Chan
bt Anaka Alankamony 7-11, 11-1, 11-9, 11-7 (38m)
Rebecca
Chiu bt Joshna Chinappa 11-7, 11-2, 11-5 (25m)
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