sports

Good start for Malaysians in Montreal, Seattle squash tourneys

Malaysian men's top seed Mohd Nafiizwan Adnan has had a convincing start to his campaign in the Montreal Open Squash Tournament.

The 29-year-old national champion proceeded to the quarterfinals after edging Canadian qualifier, Shawn Delierre, winning 11-6, 11-6 and 11-7 in the opening encounter early this morning, according to the squash website.

Mohd Nafiizwan however will face a daunting task against second seed Ali Faraq later today after the Egyptian defeated Laurens Jan Anjema of the Netherlands, winning 8-11, 11-8, 11-4 and 11-4 in another opening tie.

Meanwhile, 2015 Singapore SEA Games double gold medallist Rachel Arnold led the Malaysian players' charge to the quarterfinals of the Seattle Open Squash Tournament in the United States.

Rachel, who is the younger sister of Malaysia's number three women's squash player, Delia, moved to the last eight after edging Sachika Ingale of India, winning 11-3, 11-4 and 11-5 in the opening encounter.

Also advancing to the last eight was sixth seed Teh Min Jie who swept aside Italian player Manuela Manetta 11-7, 11-6, 9-11 and 11-2.

Teh however will have her work cut out for her in the last eight against the top seed, Line Hansen, later today after the Danish player defeated Nicole Bunyan of Canada; 11-7,11-7 and 11-4 in another opening tie.

Vanessa Raj also made it to the quarterfinals after securing a 3-0 (11-8, 11-4, 11-2) victory against US qualifier Laila Sedky.

All winners in the opening tie of both tournaments advanced straight to the quarterfinals. – Bernama, March 5, 2016.

Please note that you must sign up with disqus.com before commenting. And, please refrain from comments of a racist, sexist, personal, vulgar or derogatory nature and note that comments can be edited, rewritten for clarity or to avoid questionable issues. As comments are moderated, they may not appear immediately or even on the same day you posted them. We also reserve the right to delete off-topic comments