KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 29 — National squash players Ivan Yuen and Vanessa Raj cruised to the final qualifying match of the Hong Kong Squash Championship after edging their respective opponents in the first qualifying match of the tournament at the Hong Kong Football Club today.
Yuen, the semi-finalist of the National Championship took only 22 minutes to upstage host player Ma Tsz Hei to win 11-8,11-2,11-7 to set up a final qualifying match of the men’s category against Declan James after the English player swept aside Ma’s compatriot, Ho Ka Hei; 11-4, 11-4 and 11-2 in another match.
Raj was through to the final qualifying match of the women category after edging host player, Cheng Nga Ching to win 11-5,11-5,11-8 in just 23 minutes, according to the tournament website;www.hksquashopen.com.
She will take on Mexican player Samantha Teran tomorrow to decide which player will make it into the main draw.
Meanwhile, Malaysian squash queen and world number two Datuk Nicol David who is gunning for her 10th Hong Kong Open title will face-off against Liu Tsz Ling of Hong Kong in the opening encounter on Wednesday.
For the record, Nicol has won the tournament nine straight times since 2006.
Low Wee Wern, who is making a return to the international stage after a long break due to knee injury, will play against the qualifier on Tuesday, whereas 2015 national champion, Delia Arnold will take on Guyana’s Nicolette Fernandes, a day later.
On Tuesday, the country’s top men’s player, Mohd Nafiizwan Adnan will kick-off his campaign against Daryl Selby of England.
All preliminary matches in both categories will be played at the Hong Kong Squash Centre before shifting to the Hong Kong Park Squash Centre, beginning from the semi-final match onwards. — Bernama
