10/05/2010
 Honours Shared In Asian Championships

 Malaysia, Hong Kong and Pakistan took the gold medals in the 15th Asian Championships in Chennai ...

  Asian Squash Championships, Chennai, India

 

Honours Shared In Asian Championships

 

While Malaysia made a clean sweep of the individual titles in the Asian Squash Championships, it was Pakistan and Hong Kong that came away with the team titles in the 15th staging of the event at the Indian Squash Academy in Chennai, India.

 

Top seed Mohd Azlan Iskandar beat Pakistan's 3/4 seed Aamir Atlas Khan 11-8, 11-4, 3-0 (ret.) in the men's individual final to win the title for the second year in a row – and keep the trophy in Malaysian hands since 2000.

 

In the fifth women's final featuring Nicol David and Rebecca Chiu, it was Malaysia's world number one Nicol David who prevailed - extending her remarkable hold on the title to seven successive wins since 1998 by beating her Hong Kong rival, the second seed, 11-6, 11-7, 11-7.

 

But Hong Kong took their revenge in the women's team event – first defeating top seeds Malaysia in the semi-finals before toppling hosts India, the third seeds, 2/0 in the final. 

 

After Joey Chan put Hong Kong ahead by beating India's 15-year-old Anaka Alankamony 7-11, 11-1, 11-9, 11-7, Chiu clinched the title after overcoming Indian number one Joshna Chinappa 11-7, 11-2, 11-5.

 

After finishing as runners-up in the past three championships, Hong Kong won the title for the first time since 2000 – ending Malaysia's four-championship-winning run.

 

Hosts India narrowly lost out to Malaysia 2/1 in the men's team semi-finals – but it was second seedsPakistan that prevailed in the final, beating the favourites 2/0.

 

Yasir Butt put the former champions in the driving seat with an 11-5, 7-11, 11-4, 11-5 victory over MalaysianMohd Nafiizwan Adnan before top-ranked Pakistani Aamir Atlas Khan avenged his defeat in the individual final by beating higher-ranked Mohd Azlan Iskandar 11-8, 11-9, 13-11.

 

The result gave Pakistan their first championship win since 2004.


Men's quarter-finals:

[1] Mohd Azlan Iskandar (MAS) bt [9/16] Abdullah Almezayen (KUW) 13-11, 11-7, 12-10 (50m)

[3/4] Saurav Ghosal (IND) bt [5/8] Farhan Mehboob (PAK) 11-7, 11-1, 11-7 (36m)

[3/4] Aamir Atlas Khan (PAK) bt [5/8] Mohd Nafiizwan Adnan (MAS) 12-10, 11-8, 11-5 (35m)

[5/8] Yasir Butt (PAK) bt [2] Ong Beng Hee (MAS) 10-12, 11-8, 11-8, 11-9 (60m)

    Semi-finals:

[1] Mohd Azlan Iskandar (MAS) bt [3/4] Saurav Ghosal (IND) 11-5, 11-6, 11-5 (44m)

[3/4] Aamir Atlas Khan (PAK) bt [5/8] Yasir Butt (PAK) 11-6, 11-7, 11-0 (31m)

    Final:

[1] Mohd Azlan Iskandar (MAS) bt [3/4] Aamir Atlas Khan (PAK) 11-8, 11-4, 3-0 ret. (30m)

 

Women's quarter-finals:

[1] Nicol David (MAS) bt [9/16] Song Sun-Mi (KOR) 11-4, 11-7, 11-7 (24m)

[9/16] Dipika Pallikal (IND) bt [9/16] Misaki Kobayashi (JPN) 12-10, 11-8, 11-6 (32m)

[5/8] Joey Chan (HKG) bt [3/4] Delia Arnold (MAS) 11-4, 11-4, 11-6 (28m)

[2] Rebecca Chiu (HKG) bt [5/8] Joshna Chinappa (IND) 11-5, 11-13, 11-7, 11-6 (39m)

    Semi-finals:

[1] Nicol David (MAS) bt [9/16] Dipika Pallikal (IND) 11-5, 11-5, 11-2 (23m)

[2] Rebecca Chiu (HKG) bt [5/8] Joey Chan (HKG) 11-7, 11-9, 5-11, 15-17, 11-4 (46m)

    Final:

[1] Nicol David (MAS) bt [2] Rebecca Chiu (HKG) 11-6, 11-7, 11-7 (24m)

 

Men's Team semi-finals:

[1] MALAYSIA bt [3] INDIA 2/1

[2] PAKISTAN bt [4] KUWAIT 2/0

 

    Final:

[2] PAKISTAN bt [1] MALAYSIA 2/0

  Yasir Butt bt Mohd Nafiizwan Adnan 11-5, 7-11, 11-4, 11-5 (42m)

  Aamir Atlas Khan bt Mohd Azlan Iskandar 11-8, 11-9, 13-11 (42m)

 

Women's Team semi-finals:

[2] HONG KONG bt [1] MALAYSIA 2/1

[3] INDIA bt [4] SOUTH KOREA 2/0

 

    Final:

[2] HONG KONG bt [3] INDIA 2/0

  Joey Chan bt Anaka Alankamony 7-11, 11-1, 11-9, 11-7 (38m)

  Rebecca Chiu bt Joshna Chinappa 11-7, 11-2, 11-5 (25m)