S.Sivasangari, Malaysian squash player, almost defeated world No.1 Hania El Hammamy in the Qatar Classic Semi-Final which took place at Doha on Thursday.
Sivasangari pushed the Egyptian all the way to 5 games at the Khalifa International Tennis and Squash Centre before losing with 8-11, 11-9, 15-13, 8-11, 12-10. The intense match was on for 87 minutes, with Sivasangari coming within two points of victory in the deciding game.
Despite the defeat, her performance against Hania shows that she’s in a strong form for her next game at the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games.
There was little separating Sivasangari and Hania throughout the semi-final.
Sivasangari took the opening game with 11-8 before Hania fought back in the next two games. Refuting to let the match slip away, Sivasangari responded by winning the fourth game with 11-8 and forcing a deciding fifth.
The final game went down to the wire, but two errors from Sivasangari at a crucial stage gave Hania the opportunity she needed to close out the match with 12-10.
National coach Ajaz Azmat praised Sivasangari for giving everything she had against the world No.1.
“It was unfortunate that Sivasangari made two errors in the crucial stages of the deciding game and lost,” he said.
Hania also acknowledge how difficult the match was.
“It was very tough. Extremely tough playing against her,” she said, adding that she expected Sivasangari to produce a high level of squash with the Asian Games approaching.
While her Qatar Classic campaign ended in finals, Sivasangari’s performance comes at a important time. She will now focus on Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games, where she will attempt to defend her women’s individual squash gold medal.
Going 5 games and coming within 2 points of defeating the World No.1 gives Sivasangari a strong performance to take with her into the Games as she prepares for another big challenge on international stage.
Sources: NST
