KUCHING, July 25 — National junior squash player, S. Sivasangari claimed the first ever women’s singles title for Kedah since the inception of Sukma in 1986 at the Sarawak Squash Centre, here.

The 17-year-old secured the gold after outclassing defending champion, G. Vanessa Raj, from Penang 12-10, 11-6, 11-7 in 34 minutes at the finals.

The Commonwealth Youth Games gold medallist was down 1-7 in the first game before she fought back to record her first win against Vanessa.    

The win would be an inspiration for the world number 58 player to deliver a splendid performance at the upcoming World Junior Squash Championships in Bielsko-Biala, Poland, from Aug 6-17.

“It was quite tough in the first game, maybe because of low confidence level, but I managed to come back, then the second and third game I played better.

“I hope to perform well in Poland as my seeding is quite high. Sukma is like a preparation for the World Championships,” she told reporters.

It was the first Sukma finals for Sivasangari, who was thrashed out in the quarterfinals at Perlis two years ago.

The bronze was won by Ooki Kah Yan of Negeri Sembilan and Rachel Mae Arnold of the Federal Territorries (FT).

Meanwhile, in the men’s singles, another national junior Ng Eain Yow, from FT, fought hard for almost an hour before bagging the gold after defeating last edition’s finalist, Mohammad Syafiq Mohd Kamal of Kelantan 12-10, 11-9, 11-8.

Pahang’s Darren Chan Ti Lunn (PAH) and Md Farez Izwan of Sabah settled for bronze.

Kedah’s women’s double pair, Aika Azman/Nazimah Hanis won the second gold for the northen state after edging Terengganu’s Nurina Mohd Najib/Syarifah Nur Aishah duo 11-6, 10-11, 11-7.

The bronze medals were taken by semifinalist Amirah Rusydina/Chan Yiwen of FT and Sabah’s Ai Wen Li/Natasha Chin.

Host Sarawak managed to secure its first gold in the glass court event through Jess Tay Sin Kiong/Marcus Sim Wei Jie pair in the men’s doubles, who defeated Andrew Lee Jia Hao/Kwan Ka Lapp of FT, while the bronze went to Bryan Lim Tze Kang/Md Hannan Md Tarmidi of Negeri Sembila and Kedah’s Ong Sai Hung/S. Puvendran. — Bernama