KUALA LUMPUR, May 1 — National woman junior squash player Aifa Azman is keen to beat senior S. Sivansangari for the first time when they meet in the third round of the 2019 Asian Individual Squash Championships at the National Squash Centre in Bukit Jalil here tomorrow.
And 17-year-old Kedahan Aifa, who won last year’s British Junior Open in Birmingham, knows exactly what she needs to do to achieve that: stay focused and make fewer mistakes.
“It’s really important for me because she’s among the top seeds. If I win tomorrow, it’ll be a really big thing for me because I have never beaten her.
“Nothing is impossible, though...as long as I continue to train harder and play well tomorrow as well as stay focused on the game,” she told reporters here today.
In today’s second round action, Aifa defeated Iran’s Fereshteh Egtedari 11-3, 11-7, 11-7 while Sivasangari cruised to an 11-1, 11-1, 11-1 win over Thailand’s Pranghatai Phongrattana in just 11 minutes.
However, Aifa admitted that Sivasangari, who clinched silver in the 2018 Asian Games in Jakarta, might be at another level in terms of performance.
“She’s a good player...you saw how she did at last year’s Asian Games, where she lost 2-3 to Nicol (Datuk Nicol Ann David). I don’t know much about her game now...maybe it’s a little bit different as she’s now training in the US for the last five months,” said Aifa.
Some of Asia’s top players, including men’s world No. 10 Sauraj Ghosal of India and women’s world No. 11 Annie Au of Hong Kong, are taking part in the five-day Asian Individual Squash Championships, which began today. — Bernama
