Ajaz proud of players' strong displays despite final losses at Asian Doubles C'ships

The Star

8 hours ago

The Malaysian squash players with their medals at the conclusion of the Asian Doubles Championships in Kuching, Sarawak.
PETALING JAYA: Malaysia may have missed out on gold, but two silver medals are still a strong result for the national squad at the Asian Doubles Championships, which concluded in Kuching, Sarawak, on Wednesday.
National squash coach Ajaz Azmat remained proud of his players' efforts, especially as both Malaysian pairs in the women's and mixed doubles were beaten by opponents from the same country, India.
The Indian camp underlined their dominance by also clinching the men's doubles title through Abhay Singh and Velavan Senthilkumar.
It was a second straight letdown on home soil for Malaysia. Just a week earlier at the same venue, Rachel Arnold was denied in the final of the Asian Individual Championships by Hong Kong's Ho Tze Lok.
This time, Rachel endured more heartbreak after partnering Ameeshenraj Chandaran in the mixed doubles final. The pair were unable to overcome India's Anahat Singh and Abhay Singh, going down 9-11, 7-11 in 28 minutes.
Earlier, the women's doubles pair of Ainaa Amani and Xin Xing Yee also came painfully close but were edged out 11-8, 9-11, 10-11 by India's Joshana Chinappa and Anahat in a gripping 35-minute contest.
Despite settling for silver, Ajaz was encouraged by the team's progress, particularly as the tournament followed a format similar to next year's Asian Games in Nagoya.
"I think we did well overall. The idea was that everyone had to play in all the events - individual, team, mixed doubles, and women's doubles. This is the same format that will be used at the Asian Games.
"If you're playing in the individual events, you're definitely going to play for the team as well, and you can't really avoid that.
"What happened was that most countries, like India, did not have their mixed doubles players competing in the individual event. But for Malaysia and Hong Kong, the same players took part in the singles and all the doubles events.
"So, considering that, we actually did quite well," said Ajaz when contacted.
He also pointed out that Malaysia were without several of their top players in Kuching, including Ng Eain Yow, S. Sivasangari and Aifa Azman.
Aifa was part of the women's doubles winning pair in the previous edition held in Johor Baru, where she partnered her younger sister Aira Azman to lift the title.
For the record, at the 2022 Hangzhou Asian Games, the national squash team contributed three gold medals through Sivasangari, Eain Yow and the women's team event.