Sanjay Singh leads seeds onto main draw in Singapore
By Alex Wan – Squash Mad Asian Bureau Editor
SINGAPORE – The qualifying finals went all went to seeding this evening at the Kallang Squash Centre. Qualifying top seed Sanjay Singh Chal of Malaysia checked into the main draw in style after stopping giant-killing local Chua Man Tong in straight games. The left hander from Sarawak was clearly a class above his opponent and won in just 21 minutes at the loss of 9 points.
“I kept my focus throughout and I gave it all. I can’t take it easy even though I’m the top seed in qualifying. Playing well through the qualifiers will prepare me better for the main draw,” said Sanjay, who has drawn to play top seed James Huang of Taiwan tomorrow.
Local resident Waseem Gul, who came back from two games down in the opening round, was once again engaged in a marathon match. Korea’s Park Jong Myoung overcame a first game deficit and was close to going two down, but a spirited comeback saw him take the second 17-15 to draw level.
The third and fourth were both relatively close, twice the Korean coming out victorious and after 63 minutes, Park checked himself into the main draw, where he will take on Malaysia’s Addeen Idrakie.
Muhammad Hannan Tarmidi beat Korean Lee Sang Hoon in straight games in just under 30 minutes. While the score-line may not suggest so, the rallies were very much competitive and it was the more experienced Malaysian who had the more clinical touches in the end. Hannan next plays fellow Malaysian third seed Elvinn Keo.
In the final match of the evening, Gurshan Singh won the all-Malaysian battle against Bryan Lim in 4 closely contested games. The pair, whose last PSA match went to the wire, were once again engaged in a see-saw battle which Singh won once again 11-4, 6-11, 11-8, 11-9. Gurshan Singh will play Yuen Tsun Hei of Hong Kong tomorrow.
Gurshan said at his post-match interview, “I felt relaxed in court and was hitting very well. We’ve played each other many times and I just kept calm in there. But overall, it felt good in there and things worked for me.”
Qualifying Finals:
Gurshan Singh (MAS) bt Bryan Lim (MAS) 11-4, 6-11, 11-8, 11-9 (37m)
Muhammad Hannan (MAS) bt Lee Sang Hoon (KOR) 11-7, 11-5, 11-5 (28m)
Park Jong Myoung (KOR) bt Waseem Gul (SIN) 9-11, 17-15, 11-8, 11-9 (63m)
Sanjay Singh Chal (MAS) bt Chua Man Tong (SIN) 11-2, 11-4 , 11-3 (21m)
Pictures by Singapore Squash Rackets Association