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Date: 19th - 26th June 2004
Venue: National Squash Centre, Bukit Jalil
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12th Asian Squash Championship
2004 at a glance
By Alex Wan
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The
curtain draw close at the 12th edition of the
Asian Squash Championship, the hosts are denied of the
men’s team title yet again by Pakistan and Mansoor Zaman
again is beaten by Ong Beng Hee, who completed a
hattrick of titles in the individual mens. Nicol equals
Mah Li Lian’s record of four consecutive titles and
Sharon Wee got a great win against Rebecca Chiu. An
unassuming Kuwaiti boy caught everyone’s eyes with his
sparkling run in the individual.
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Local media was all praise
for the performances of both the Malaysian
men and women in both the individual and team
event. After a spell of bad results, Ong Beng
Hee and Sharon Wee shut the critics up a bit
with a title and a final appearance
respectively. Beng Hee is seen moving around the
court so gracefully compared to everyone else at
the championship while Sharon showed guts of
steel in her match against Rebecca Chiu. Kenneth
Low, the ex-international gave a “nothing is
impossible” display in the team final. |
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The
Kuwaiti men surprised everyone! Sixteen year old
Abdullah Khalid Al Mazayin first beat Saurav Ghosal
in the last 32 and then Hong Kong’s Wong Wai Hang in the
last 16 to make the quarter final of the individuals.
The whole team then shocked Hong Kong to make the semi
final before bowing out to eventual champions Pakistan.
The team coached by ex-PSA pro Amir Wagih sure look set
to further rock the world in the coming years, what more
with a squad that has an average age of 18.
Shahid
Zaman looks very on course
for a comeback into the world scene with his outstanding
performance. Although adopting a rather unpopular and
physical style of play (which he can get away with
certain referees!), it is without doubt that Shahid is a
remarkably skillful player.
The
Indian girls are a young lot, and while they made
the final the last time round, they only managed a
fourth position this time. However, they still have many
years ahead and are looking set to make a big impact at
the next championship. The men however, still have a
fair bit to catch up before they can challenge the top
teams. Ritwik Bhattarchaya, under the guidance of Neil
Harvey, is slowly climbing the ranks but still a fair
distance from the top Asians. Siddarth Suchde, the
Scottish based, Harvard-bound third stringer is also one
to watch, with his blend of European styled squash. |
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Kong had a rather
not so illustrious outing to Malaysia this time
round. After a strong showing at the World
Men’s, where they upset the Malaysians and
subsequently made the quarter final, they fell
to unfancied Kuwait and top player Wong Wai Hang
also fell in the last 16 of the individuals. The
girls made the final expectedly, but Rebecca
Chiu lost out to a spirited Sharon Wee in the
individual, where a night before, team mate
Christina Mak gave a strong performance before
bowing out to Sharon. |
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Hong Kong Team |
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What one
thing Asia lack is quantity of quality of referees in
the region. We see the same referees chairing the
“important” matches over and over again. Hats off to
Munir Shah, (director of refereeing, ASF) who spared
time off his busy schedule to run a seminar for the
locals on 12th June in a bid to address this
problem.
Once
again, the Asians have come to an end and many of the
players had a blast at a local watering hole on Saturday
night. The Malaysians, who seem pretty down after the
men’s team event had totally gone wild together with the
Hong Kong, Singaporean and even SRAM officials. Till
2006…. |
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FINAL STANDINGS |
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Men |
Women |
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1) PAKISTAN
2)MALAYSIA
3)INDIA
4)KUWAIT
5)HONG KONG
6)KOREA
7)JAPAN
8)JORDAN
9)SINGAPORE
10)INDONESIA
11)CHINESE TAIPEI
12)MACAU |
1)MALAYSIA
2)HONG KONG
3)JAPAN
4)INDIA
5)KOREA
6)SINGAPORE
7)PAKISTAN
8)SRI LANKA |
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