The Star Online: Sports
The Star Online: Sports |
- Perry rules Singapore Masters
- Malaysia edge Wales in 5th-8th classification match in Boston
- Razif plays down Koo-Tan’s chances at World Championships
| Posted: 30 Jul 2011 06:40 PM PDT PETALING JAYA: World No. 4 Madeline Perry (pic) of Ireland won the US$53,000 Singapore Masters – her first title of the year – after beating England's Laura Massaro in the final at the Kallang Squash Centre yesterday. Perry took 61 minutes to carve out an 11-7, 11-8, 5-11, 11-9 win in only her second final appearance of the year following the CIMB KL Open back in March. It was a major disappointment for Massaro, who had a day earlier played brilliantly to knock out four-time champion Nicol David in the semi-finals. But it was a well-deserved victory for the 34-year-old Perry, whose last win came 10 months ago when she captured the Canon Kirk Holmes Irish Open crown last September. Perry and most of the Women's International Squash Players Association (Wispa) Tour players will now take a 10-day break before heading for the Australian Open from Aug 7-14. Full Feed Generated by Get Full RSS, sponsored by Used Car Search. |
| Malaysia edge Wales in 5th-8th classification match in Boston Posted: 30 Jul 2011 06:32 PM PDT PETALING JAYA: Malaysia are assured of at least a sixth-placed finish in the Women's World Junior squash championships when they beat Wales 2-1 in the 5th-8th classification match at the Harvard University, Boston, on Friday. Wales took the lead when the tricky Tesni Evans outfoxed top national junior Tan Yan Xin 11-4, 3-11, 11-6, 12-10 in 36 minutes. Malaysia levelled the tie when Vanessa Raj outmuscled Hannah Davies 11-2, 11-7, 11-7 in just 19 minutes. With Yong Sue Ann out with a shin injury, Celine Yeap took to the court and breezed past Fiona Murphy 11-6, 11-7, 11-7 to seal victory for Malaysia. Malaysia will now take on England again in the 5th-6th playoff. England defeated New Zealand 2-1. "Our girls will be aiming to prove that their win over England in the group matches was not a fluke. However, the line-up will depend on whether Sue Ann can recover from her injury," said national head coach Allan Soyza in an email. Meanwhile, hosts the United States and top seeds Egypt set up a dream final featuring the best junior girl players in the world. The Americans, led by world No. 21 Amanda Sobhy had to battle to get past India 2-1 while Egypt scored a fairly easy 2-0 win over last year's runners-up Hong Kong. Full Feed Generated by Get Full RSS, sponsored by Used Car Search. |
| Razif plays down Koo-Tan’s chances at World Championships Posted: 30 Jul 2011 06:20 PM PDT KUALA LUMPUR: Former doubles specialist Razif Sidek is not too confident of top doubles shuttlers Koo Kien Keat-Tan Boon Heong's chances at the World Champion-ships, which will be held in Wembley from Aug 8-14. Razif said it would be a tall order for the world No. 4 Kien Keat-Boon Heong to nab the elusive men's doubles title following their uninspiring performances so far this year. "The results show that they have been rather inconsistent this year. They are one of the top pairs in the world but that is not reflected in their results. I doubt they can win this year," said Razif. Kien Keat-Boon Heong have reached three finals in major events in the last one year – the World Championships in Paris (August), the Asian Games in Guangzhou (December) and the All-England (March) – but, other than that, they have nothing to shout about. The duo have not won any major titles since last year's Malaysia Open in Bukit Jalil. They did win the Malaysia Open Grand Prix Gold title in Alor Setar in April – but it came courtesy of a walkover conceded by Alven Yulianto-Hendra Gunawan of Indonesia due to the former's groin injury. The Malaysian players may have beaten top players like Cai Yun-Fu Haifeng of China, Markis Kido-Hendra Setiawan of Indonesia and South Korea's Lee Yong-dae-Jung Jae-sung in the last year but they have also suffered stunning reversals at the hands of unheralded players. Razif said that winners needed to possess strong characters. "One has to have self-confidence, good character and produce consistent results. This will raise their profile prior to major events. I don't think others fear them now. Koo and Tan started well in their careers (in 2006 and 2007) but they have not been that inspiring in recent times," he said. Razif, who won a silver medal with brother Jalani at the 1987 world meet, however, hopes the duo can prove him wrong. "I hope coach Rexy (Mainaky) will be able to psyche them up in the next one week," said Razif. "Whatever outcome at the world meet, I hope Rexy will focus on more specialised training for his men. They need that to move up in their level of play." Kien Keat-Boon Heong are in the bottom half of the draw with second seeds Mathias Boe-Carsten Mogensen, China's Chai Biao-Guo Zhengdong, Indonesians Mohd Ahsan-Bona Septano, Japan's Hirokatsu Hashimoto-Noriyasu Hirata and South Koreans Ko Sung-hyun-Yoo Yeon-seong. The Malaysian's sternest test may be against Sung-hyun-Yeon-seong in the quarter-finals. Kien Keat-Boon Heong have lost all four matches against the second pair from South Korea. Three-time world champion and top seed Cai Yun-Fu Haifeng are in the top half with Markis-Hendra, Yong-dae-Jae-sung, Alven-Hendra, Denmark's Jonas Rasmussen-Mads Conrad-Petersen and two Malaysian pairs – Chan Peng Soon-Lim Khim Wah and Mohd Zakry Abdul Latif-Hoon Thien How. Last year, Kien Keat-Boon Heong reached the final in Paris but lost to Cai Yun-Haifeng. Full Feed Generated by Get Full RSS, sponsored by Used Car Search. |
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