Malaysia’s Sivasangari Subramaniam said her double gold was akin to something out of a movie as she captured the Asian Games singles title, while compatriot Eain Yow Ng won men’s gold.
In a tense women’s final, Malaysia’s Subramaniam edged out Hong Kong, China’s Sin Yuk Chan in a five-game thriller that either player could have won.
The pair met earlier this year in the final of the Asian Championship, with Chan getting the better of Subramaniam in five games.
However it was revenge for the Malaysian, whose victory at the Hangzhou Olympic Sports Centre underlines her return to form after recovering from a serious traffic accident last year.
“I was the flag bearer and now, to win two gold medals, it seems like a movie to me,” said Subramaniam, who was also part of the Malaysian women’s team that won gold earlier in the competition.
“I don’t think anyone would have expected me to win two gold medals after the last year-and-a-half. I started playing well only in maybe April or May but before that, I was really struggling. I had a lot of challenges to go through and I cannot believe this at the moment.”
3/4 seed Chan spoke before the match about how her best shot at the title was with her attacking weaponry and she more than lived up to her word, frequently disrupting the Malaysian with fantastic work at the front of the court.
After Chan took the first game 11-8, Subramaniam dragged herself level with a 15-13 second game win.
The third game went to a tie-break, too, as Chan regained her lead with a 12-10 victory only for Subramaniam to level again with an 11-9 win in game four to force a fifth game.
In an epic final encounter, it was Chan who made the first move towards the title, with the 21-year-old moving into an 8-5 lead.
Subramaniam, however, dug in incredibly in a frenetic conclusion, reeling in Chan’s lead to earn championship ball at 10-9.
Chan recovered from the onslaught well and saved championship ball to force yet another tie-break, but could not capitalise as Subramaniam clinched Malaysia’s fifth consecutive Asian Games women’s singles title with a 12-10 victory.
Following Subramaniam’s victory, Malaysian Men’s No.1 Eain Yow Ng then secured Malaysia’s third squash gold of the Games as he came from behind to beat India’s Saurav Ghosal.
Ghosal, who beat Ng in the team event at this year’s Games, made the stronger start as he recovered from going 1-6 down to winning game one 11-9 in what looked to be an ominous sign for the Malaysian.
Despite the seemingly demoralising turn of momentum against him, the No.1 seed’s head did not drop and he levelled with an 11-9 win of his own before pulling ahead with a comfortable 11-5 win in game three.
Towards the end of game three, there seemed to be an air of inevitability about the conclusion, with Ng finding it increasingly comfortable to hold off a tiring Ghosal’s attacks.
Sure enough, this pattern continued in the fourth game, and the 25-year-old was able to bring the contest to a close and earn the gold with an 11-7 win.
Ng said: It’s huge. What a way to do it. I’m just soaking it in at the moment… at times, it just felt like there was no way we could win a point. Everyone was just picking everything up.
“All credit to Saurav. What a legend. If you watch him over the last two weeks he has played unbelievably.”
Despite that defeat for Ghosal, his second in the singles final following a 2014 loss to Kuwait’s Abdullah Almezayen, the 37-year-old will take consolation from his men’s team gold medal earned earlier this wee.
Result: 19th Asian Games Women’s Individual Championship, Final
[3/4] Sivasangari Subramaniam (MAS) bt [3/4] Sin Yuk Chan (HKG) 3-2: 8-11, 15-13, 10-12, 11-9, 12-10 (64m)
Result: 19th Asian Games Men’s Individual Championship, Final
[1] Eain Yow Ng (MAS) bt [2] Saurav Ghosal (IND) 9-11, 11-9, 11-5, 11-7 (72m)