Double Doha Delight
for Malaysia

Malaysia celebrated a unique squash gold double in the 15th Asian Games today when world number one Nicol David defeated title-holder Rebecca Chiu in the women's final and Ong Beng Hee retained the men's crown after fighting back from a game down against compatriot Mohd Azlan Iskandar at the Khalifa International Tennis and Squash Complex in Doha, Qatar.



Gold for Golden Girl
Major Maniam reports from Qatar

Nicol David had to wait four years to take revenge over her Asian rival Rebecca Chiu who ambushed her in the finals of the last Asian Games in Busan. However it is worth noting that Nicol did beat Rebecca in the Asian squash Championships in Chinese Taipei in Feb this year.

Nicol served first and raced to 8-0 before she lost serve. Hands changed a couple of times before she collected the first game without dropping a point. In the second and third Rebecca could only offer token resistance. Nicol was simply too good.

Two squash legends who were watching the game had this to say. President of world squash Jahangir Khan was probably reminded of his heydays when he dominated world squash. "Pretty one-sided, what else can I say," he said.

Geoff Hunt who is now head coach at the Aspire sports academy in Qatar said "Nicol played several notches higher than she did at the commonwealth games in Australia this year".

Nicol David came in to these games as a firm favourite and leaves as one, along with the gold medal.

Defending champion
retains gold

The top two Malaysian boys have been playing each other for a very long time now. At the Asian Squash championships in Chinese Taipei in the later part of Feb this year Beng Hee beat Azlan 3-0. Earlier that month Azlan had beaten Beng Hee in a closely contested final of the Kuala Lumpur Open.

They may have differing styles of play but they know each others game very well and their level of play is almost similar. Unlike the women's match there was no clear favourite.

The first game was played at a medium pace with Azlan being the steadier of the two. Beng Hee's game was laced with far too many errors and he promptly lost the first.

Beng Hee increased the pace in the second and Azlan started making the errors. The third was more or less the same as Beng Hee raced to an 8-5 lead. Azlan forged a comeback to make it 8-8 but a couple of errors saw him lose that 10-9. The fourth was close until half way, then Beng Hee, smelling blood, attacked all the way to the crown which he won in Busan four years ago.

"We've both done well. There were Malaysian finalists in both events. There were also a lot of VIPs here tonight, I see a lot of relieved faces!

"It's good to win, you never know when you can win another Asian Games gold medal. I was very nervous, I think he was very nervous too. I was very lucky to win the third game 10-9. If Azlan had won the third game 10-9, then it might have been a different story.

"I didn't think I played very well, but this was a tough match against a tough opponent who can easily dominate the court. I tried to use my mobility to move my opponent around the court."

Jahangir said Beng Hee's attacking play forced Azlan into making errors whilst Hunt said "Both these players are pretty close. They are outstanding athletes and today was Beng Hee's day."

The squash games concluded today with compliments to the Qatar Squash Federation for a job well done. And to you press guys thanks a ton.

Regards and ciao for now ...

         Games photos from GNN

"There is no thought of revenge. It is more about wanting to win that medal. She is a hard player to play and I had to keep her out of her comfort zone.

"It was a good match and I feel really ecstatic. It was the last day of the last tournament of the year and there was so much pressure on both girls leading into the game. It has been a great year and a great way to finish off by winning here."

"I played just normally. Nicol overpowered me and put me under great pressure. I think I should have been more patient. I need to work hard to win against her. I knew it before I started the match.

"She is so much better than me. Her speed and strength were superior, so I couldn’t perform to my full potential.

"It was easier for her to get a point and very hard for me to respond."

"I just hit too many errors, made too many mistakes. It's not rocket science.

"I've been mentally tired. But the best athletes have to back it up every match.

"The objective is to win, simple."

Maj. S.Maniam reports from Doha

Nicol & Rebecca set up repeat final

"Plain and simple" seemed like the catch phrase as far as the womens semi finals was concerned. For starters both the No.1 seed Nicol David and No.2 seed Rebecca Chiu were a little too strong for their respective opponents.

In particular, the way Nicol glided around the court made it look like squash was indeed a simple game to play. Her movement was so efficient and her shot selection so effective that it was a joy to watch. Rebecca too played brilliantly to contain her opponent. Both Christina and Sharon gave it their best shot but they were up against the best two in Asia today and it turned out to be a difficult proposition indeed.

Good day for Malaysia in the Men's

The men's semi-finals on the other hand was an exact opposite. The diminutive Saurav Ghosal had the crowd entertained with his delightful front game and his awesome retrieving skills.

Beng Hee picked up  in the Men'salmost all of Saurav's attacking shots to the front and at the same time threw in a few of his. Saurav continued with the same sort of game in the third and slowly it was beginning to produce results. Beng Hee was either getting a little late to the ball or were tinning his returns. Saurav took a well deserve third. The fourth was looking good for Saurav as he raced to a 3-0 and 4-1 lead with yet again - delicate drop shots. Beng Hee decided that he should keep Saurav away from the front and went back to playing a lot more lobs as he did in the first two games. Rallies were now getting longer and Saurav's legs getting wearier. Beng Hee finished of well against a fighting Saurav.

The last semi-finals of the day was also fought well by both players. Mansoor beautiful touch took him to 6-1 lead in the first, a 6-1 lead in the second and a 7-2 lead in the third. All three times he lost. Somehow Mansoor looses his sting in the tail end while Azlan is determined to hang in there playing aggressive lengths and drops. End of the day it was Azlan's consistency that made his day.  A great day for Malaysia ...

The days proceedings commenced with an emphatic victory by 3/4 seed Christina Mak of Hong Kong over Mami Nishio of Japan. Christina was a little apprehensive in the early stages of the first game, but once she found her rhythm it was plain sailing all the way.

Sharon Wee the other 3/4 seed came on next to take on Chinatsu Matsui. Right from the word go Sharon stamped her authority and gave Chinatsu no hope whatsoever. With that loss the Japanese campaign ended.

3/4 seed in the Men's event, Pakistani Mansoor Zaman was next against Wong Wai Hang of Hong Kong. As usual Mansoor was a delight to watch. He played a whole lot of shots and as usual got some and lost some. Wong on the other hand played his steady basic game laced with the odd attacking shots. And at one point it looked like he was going to get it his way. Mansoor had other ideas, he reeled off winners at the crucial tail end to clinch each game.

In the all Indian quarter final, the top 2 Indians battled it out. 5/8 seed Ritwik Bhattacharya took on fast improving Saurav Ghosal. At 4-2 in the first game Ritwik got a slight nick on his nose. Play ceased for a while so that he could get the minor bleeding attended to. Once play resumed Saurav zipped around the court playing delightful lengths and awesome finishing shots to take the first.

The second was no contest as Saurav romped home without dropping a point. Saurav's drops were tight and low and the lethargic Ritwik was not able to cope. Being 2 games down seemed to spur Ritwik on as he came back fighting, forcing Saurav to make a string of errors coupled with his own attacking drop shots to take the third. The fourth was fought neck and neck with Saurav being the consistent of the two. A well deserved victory for Saurav, I must say.

Defending women's gold medalist Rebecca Chiu made short work of Indian No.1 Joshna Chinappa winning 3-0. At last the crowd got to see world champion Nicol David in action, and she did not disappoint. She cruised to a 3-0 victory dropping only 3 points.

Ong Beng Hee stepped on court for the first time. He came up against Ali Bader of Kuwait . The start was a little shaky for the no. 2 seed. But once he settled in there was no looking back. A comfortable win for the defending champion.

The best, we thought was saved for the last. Just a few weeks ago Azlan Iskander had lost to Amir Atlas in Pakistan. It was time for revenge. What started promisingly ended tamely with Azlan stamping his authority right from the start with effective short straight and cross court drives and some delicately executed straight drops.

10-Dec-2006


Men's draw (top)

Men's draw (bottom)

Women's draw


Mansoor Zaman



Chiu and Chinappa



Saurav Ghosal

[1] Mohd Azlan Iskandar (MAS) bt Kim Sung Young (KOR) 9-3, 9-2, 9-0 (26m)
[5/8] Aamir Atlas Khan (PAK) bt Navin Samarasinghe (SRI) 9-2, 9-0, 9-5 (26m)

[5/8] Wai Hang Wong (HKG) bt Sun Kin Peng (MAC) 9-1, 9-3, 9-2 (19m)
[3/4] Mansoor Zaman (PAK) bt Ricky Espinola (PHI) 9-0, 9-1, 9-0 (15m)

[3/4] Ritwik Bhattacharya (IND) bt Eranga Alwis (SRI) 9-1, 9-2, 9-1 (19m)
[5/8] Saurav Ghosal (IND) bt Kim Dong Woo (KOR) 9-0, 9-3, 9-1 (30m)

[5/8] Ali Alramezi (KUW) bt Roger Ngan (HKG) 2-9, 9-1, 2-9, 9-2, 9-1 (61m)
[2] Ong Beng Hee (MAS) bt Ahmad Al Zabidi (JOR) w/o

Women's 1st round

[3/4] Sharon Wee (MAS) bt Chi Leng Joyce Kuok (MAC) 9-0, 9-0, 9-0 (11m)
[5/8] Chinatsu Matsui (JPN) bt Tehani Guruge (SRI) 9-0, 9-2, 9-3 (19m)
[5/8] Joshna Chinappa (IND) bt Eun Chan Ahn (KOR) 10-8, 4-9, 9-7, 9-4 (44m)
[2] Rebecca Chiu (HKG) bt Zhenzhen Wu (CHN) 9-2, 9-6, 9-1 (14m)

Since the squash tournament was commencing only from the 10th the Indian contingent left in the early hours of the 7th from Chennai. We
reached Seeba International Airport, Doha at 3 pm via Muscat.

On board we were told that those arriving for the games were to alight last. We were escorted to a hi tech terminal constructed specially for the Asian Games where immigration and obtaining our accreditation cards took no more that 3 minutes !!

We realized it was raining in the desert when we left the terminal to board the coach which took us to the Athletes village.

THE EVENT

I have been with the team to the last Asian Games in Korea (2002) and the South Asian Games in Pakistan (2004) and Srilanka (2006) and its always been different experience representing India at multi sport events.

The games had started a week ago and as most events were well underway there was a buzz in the Athletes Village. Yesterday, we practiced and checked mail on one of the 100 computers they have organized for the athletes. The only let down is the fact
that there is no WiFi available in the village. Hence when I go to the cafe to check email there is a long line of people waiting to surf the net.

FIRST DAY

The first day of this high profile squash event at the Asian Games went precisely as predicted. The lone entry from China and 1 Jordanian player did not show up All matches bar one were won in straight games. WSF President, Mr. Jahangir Khan, and ASF President Mr. N. Ramachan witnessed some of the matches. .A fine start to a wonderfully organised event.

Last time we just missed out on a medal and we hope that with the improvement in our player rankings we will come home with medals this time round.

Chiu takes Gold for
Hong Kong in 2002

"I think it's time to arouse the interest of Hong Kong people and pay tribute to our sports heroes.

"A lot of hard work and effort is required for an athlete to win a medal at an international event like the Asian Games, and if they are able to make it, they should be recognised by the community and rewarded in tangible fashion."

to the SCMP

Hong Kong's Asian Games athletes include Rebecca Chiu, Christina Mak, Wong Wai Hang and Roger Ngan, who will certainly deliver their best for HKG, having so much support from sponsors.