KUALA LUMPUR: It was a memorable outing for three young Malaysians as Aira Azman, Noor Ainaa Amani Ampandi, and Yasshmita Jadishkumar all came through the World Squash Championships Qualifying Event to book their maiden tickets to the world meet.
The World Squash Championships 2023, which is set to be held in Chicago from May 3 to 11, held a qualifying event to offer 12 spots — six each for men and women — and it was held concurrently with the ongoing British Open.
The 21-year-old Noor Ainaa, who has been in red-hot form with two back-to-back titles on the Professional Squash Association (PSA) Tour, was the first to come through after she claimed an impressive 6-11, 11-5, 11-9, 11-6 win over Germany’s Katerina Tycova in the qualifying finals in Birmingham on Friday.
Noor Ainaa, who is ranked a career-high 83rd at the moment, had earlier breezed past Egyptian teenager Nour Heikal 11-4, 11-4, 11-6 before powering past Germany’s world No. 65 Saskia Beinhard 11-8, 11-6, 11-5 to reach the final.
“It’s an incredible feeling as I came here without any pressure knowing I had to play one of the seeded players. This is my first time competing in a qualifying event, and it feels great to be competing at the world meet for the first time,” she said in a statement from The Squash Racquets Association of Malaysia (SRAM) today.
Following Noor Ainaa’s success, Aira (ranked 67th), who was seeded third at the qualifying event, beat Australia’s Alex Haydon 11-6, 11-3, 11-8 in the semi-finals before overcoming a dead leg to beat Egypt’s Menna Hamed 11-8, 11-6, 11-4 in the final.
The third Malaysian to make it through was 18-year-old Yasshmita, who pulled off an upset by beating senior compatriot Chan Yiwen 8-11, 7-11, 11-8, 11-9, 11-6 in the final.
It was an incredible feat for the Seremban-born athlete, who is ranked No. 103 in the world, as she had earlier battled through two rounds of five-setters against Egypt’s Rana Ismail and England’s Kiera Marshall, respectively.
Besides the three qualifiers, the other Malaysians who have already booked their spots based on their world rankings are world No. 23 S. Sivasangari, world No. 25 Rachel Arnold, and world No. 26 Aifa Azman.
In the men’s event, veteran Ivan Yuen, who is competing in his first tournament in five months, also had much to celebrate after overcoming a tough challenge to book his world meet ticket.
The 32-year-old was taken to five games in the semi-finals before prevailing against Switzerland’s Yannick Wilhelmi 7-11, 11-6, 11-3, 9-11, 11-5, and the world No. 66 banked on his experience to beat English teenager Finnlay Withington 13-11, 11-4, 14-12 in the final round.
Ivan joins compatriot and world No. 21 Ng Eain Yow as the two Malaysian men in the main draw, taking the Malaysian participation to a total of eight. – BERNAMA
