A Title at Home, and the First......What a Moment!

	Azlan Iskandar
		by Tricia Chuah

It's Monday morning and I was suppose to meet Azlan, my team mate and friend, at the gym. Instead, I found him pacing around MSN complex, searching high and low for our conditioning specialist, Sean Sturgess, as I just got to the entrance of the building. A great athlete, and always known for his diligence in training, he appeared fresh and energetic for a guy who just finished a tournament over the weekend. Azlan won his first PSA title at his own back yard yesterday by upsetting the top seed, Tommy Berden of Netherlands, ranked 39th in the world, and dedicates this sweet victory to his lovely mom, who endlessly backs him up with support. We found a corridor outside the gym, just slightly off the running track, pleasant enough to chat, and also spacious enough for us to do our stretching. A guy who is always himself to everyone, I enjoyed the conversation with Azlan, despite my unfulfilled wish for that guy with the lawn mower, somewhere not far from us, to take a break!

Hey, well done again for yesterday’s win. How did you celebrate it?

Azlan : How did I celebrate it? With my girlfriend, Reyhan, went to her house and

             had dinner. Her parents bought me a cake. It was just really quiet, 

             you know.

The win, was it to upset the top seed, winning the tournament or defeating Tommy, the guy himself?

Azlan : It was a good win, my first PSA title at home,

Really??

Azlan : Oh ya! Big time.

How did you prepare for this tournament? Did you aim to peak high for it?

Azlan : I don’t think it was a peak. I think I just wanted to do well in this  

tournament, and I’ve worked pretty hard with Neil, my coach in 

          England for the last three weeks before I came back. Yeah, we worked

          on my movement and fitness so, you know, that helps obviously.

How was the finals? Felt good? Nervous?

Azlan : I don’t know, but I think I found myself quite confident, to start with. I

             probably didn’t show it because I played a really safe game, but I knew

             he was tired....I knew he was gonna be quite tired after “Moose” ( Mike

             Corren ) played five games with him on the previous day.

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