Asian squash begins Saturday

Published>Fri, Apr 30 10 02:38 PM

Chennai, April 30 (IANS) Malaysians Mohd Azlan, ranked No.16, and reigning World champion Nicol David are the top seeds in the 15th Asian Squash Championships commencing at the Indian Squash Academy here Saturday.

Players from 13 countries, including China, Chinese Taipei, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Iran, Iraq, Japan, Kuwait, South Korea, Pakistan, Singapore, Sri Lanka and hosts India, are taking part. The individual championship will be held May 1-4 followed by the team event May 5-8.

At the last Asian Championship held in Kuwait in 2008, Mohd Azlan won his maiden Asian title defeating four-time winner Ong Beng Hee. Nicol David will be looking to win her seventh consecutive title from 1998.

The Indian contingent will be at full strength with a total of 16 men and eight women participating in the individual event.

Indian national champions Saurav Ghosal (No.29) and Joshna Chinappa (No.30) will lead the contingent.

Ghosal is scheduled to play Farahan Mehboob in the quarterfinal while Joshna will be up against second seed Rebecca Chiu of Hong Kong in the quarterfinal.

The other top Indians in the individual events are Siddharth Suchde (90), Harinder Pal Singh Sandhu (98), Ritwik Bhattacharya (114), Dipika Pallikal (43), Anaka Alankamony (65) and Surbhi Misra (113).

There will be a meeting of the officers of the Asian Squash Federation May 7. It will be followed by its Annual General Meeting the next day.

The seedings for the individual events are:

Men: 1- Mohd Azlan (Malaysia); 2 - Ong Beng Hee (Malaysia); 3/4. - Saurav Ghosal (India) and Amir Atlas Khan; 5/8 - Abdulla Almezaven (Kuwait), Mohd Nafizwan (Malaysia), Farhan Mehboob (Pakistan) and Yasir Ali Butt (Pakistan).

Women: 1- Nicol David (Malaysia); 2 - Rebecca Chiu (Hong Kong China); 3/4 - Annie Au (Hong Kong China) and Delia Arnold (Malaysia); 5/8 - Joey Chan (Hong Kong China), Low Wee Wern (Malaysia), Sharon Wee (Malaysia) and Joshna Chinappa (India).

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