Malaysia at The 2006 Asian Games - Squash

Squash

Nicol Ann David will be an obvious gold medal hopeful, being her No.1 current world ranking. The Penangite is in top condition after winning the Hong Kong Open last month. With a disastrous outing at the Melbourne Commonwealth Games in March this year, Nicol can be expected to give her 200 per cent to bag the Asiad gold medal as an apology to the country.

4 Malaysian had successfully get themselves into the men's and women's individual semifinals. However, Sharon Wee Ee Lin was defeated by Hong Kong's Chiu Wing Yin with 9-6, 9-1, 9-3. However, the Nicole Ann David and the other 2 Malaysian men's squash player had given a place in the final. As a result, Malaysia is ensure to win at least 1 gold 2 silver.

Defending champion Beng Hee Ong of Malaysia beat compatriot and top seed Mohamad Azlan Iskander to claim the gold medal in the men's singles squash final at Khalifa International Complex on Thursday.

In a closely fought encounter, which could have gone either way, Ong prevailed 5–9, 9–1,10–9, 9–5. Iskander began the stronger, winning a series of long rallies and he was good value for his first set win. But thereafter things went awry for the top seed and Ong began to dictate terms.

Iskander used gamesmanship on several occasions, prompting a number of lets during the match, but he was unable to disturb the concentration of Ong. Indeed it was Iskander who cracked first, throwing his racket to the ground in the crucial third game, which Ong just edged.

With Nicole Ann David’s comfortable victory in the women’s singles earlier in the day, Malaysia cleaned up on the courts, much to the delight of their supporters.

After the game, Ong said, "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."

Iskander said, "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."

As expected, World no 1 Nicol Ann David exorcised her demons of the last Asian Games, by winning gold in the women’s squash singles at the Khalifa International Complex on Thursday, 14 December. Four years ago she suffered a devastating loss to Chiu Wing Yin at the final in Busan, Korea which caused her to take a four month break from the game to reassess her career in the sport. But this time round it was a whole different story as she brushed aside her rival from Hong Kong, China 9–0, 9–3, 9–3 in just 30 minutes.

Clad in a striking red and black outfit, the Malaysian player was a picture of concentration and determination as she took to the court. She stamped her authority on the game early on and raced into a 3–0 lead. She made good use of the court to stretch that advantage to 5–0. Try as she might, Chiu had no answer to Davis's incessant pressure and the opening game ended with a 9–0 whitewash in just six minutes.

David began the second game in similar fashion, winning the first point by varying her pace. Chiu finally broke the ice with a powerful shot to the right-hand corner of the court. But David was soon on top again and, after a series of long rallies, she stretched her lead to 4–1, before wrapping up the second game, 9–3.

In the third, the world No 1raced into a 3–0 lead. Chiu managed to win a few points after an impressive array of shots and evened the score at 3-3. But David returned with a series of clinical executions to confirm her status as the Asian Games' top player and seal the match with a 9–3 score in the final game. Her gold was the 200th for Malaysia in Asian Games history.

After the game, David was keen to play down any talk of revenge, she said, “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.