Sivasangari Subramaniam, the well known Malaysian squash player is making waves at the GillenMarkets London Classic championship. On the 30th March, Sivasangari stunned the sports world after winning the world No. 1 Nour El Sherbini of Egypt in the quarter-finals of the inaugural London Squash Classic. The 2022 Asian Games champion, ranked world No. 16, took only 24 minutes to dispatch El Sherbini 11-9, 11-9 in the last eight of the Professional Squash Association (PSA) World Tour Gold event at Alexandra Palace, London.
This marked Sivasangari’s first triumph over the seven-time world champion in their third encounter. With this, Sivasangari became the first player ranked outside the top 10 to defeat El Sherbini since Annie Au of Hong Kong accomplished the feat during the initial round of the Cleveland Classic 2015 in Ohio.
Continuing her impressive streak, Sivasangari went head-to-head against Nele Gilis, the world No.4 player from Belgium, in the semi-finals yesterday. In a historic moment, she secured victory over Gilis, thereby becoming the first Malaysian player to advance to a Gold Level Finals since Nicol David achieved the feat in 2015. The encounter against Gilis unfolded over a grueling five matches, with Sivasangari emerging triumphant in three of them. The results were as follows: 10-12, 11-7, 11-8, 10-12, 11-9. This intense battle spanned a total of 94 minutes, culminating in a well-deserved victory for Sivasangari.
Sivasangari’s achievement stands as a remarkable feat. As a Malaysian Indian squash player, she has brought immense pride to our nation. Today, she is poised to face world No.2 Hania El Hammamy in the finals. We extend our heartfelt best wishes to Sivasangari for the upcoming final match.
Source: Free Malaysia Today, PSA World Tour Instagram
