JAKARTA, Aug 24 — Malaysian squash queen, Datuk Nicol David, is confident that the national women’s team can secure a positive result in the team event competition in the 2018 Asian Games Jakarta-Palembang which starts on Monday.
She said the squad comprised a strong line-up including 2018 national champion, S. Sivasangari and fellow Penangite, Low Wee Wern who clinched three straight victories in the PSA Tour competition after a 20-month lay-off due to a serious knee injury.
“We have a very strong team with a lot of younger players. They are really putting up a good show on the PSA Tour by performing well and pushing the top players to the limit,” she told the Malaysian media, here, today.
Earlier, the four-time Asian Games winner had booked her spot in the last four in the women’s individual competition by defeating the joint 5/8th seed, Satomi Watanabe of Japan; 11-6, 11-4 and 11-3 in the quarter-finals at the Gelora Bung Karno Squash Arena.
Nicol will meet either joint 3/4th seed, Dipika Pallikal of India or joint 5/8th seed, Misaki Kobayashi of Japan in the semi0finals tomorrow.
On the same note, Nicol said the Asian Games meant a lot to her and the other players as it is Asia’s biggest stage to fight for glory.
“For the squash players in Asia, we got a lot of support from the respective national sports organisation to push for the Asian Games medal, and now we have almost all the semi-finalists being the top 10 ranked players in the world,” Nicol asserted. — Bernama
