Asian Youth Games - Draw & Result
Event Highlights:
Team Event - Final Day (23 Aug 2013) | |
Malaysia won both team titles in the Asian youth games Nanjing, China. In the women's match the top two seeds Malaysia and Hong Kong battled it out on the wonderful all glass court here. Rachel Arnold delivered the first point with a tight win against Choi uen shen. The opening game was won by Choi but Arnold hit back to win the next three games in a very tight match. In a rematch of the individuals final Vanessa Raj delivered the winning point for Malaysia over Pansy Chan. The opening two games were shared but at the beginning of the third a blood injury and a loss of ball swung the game in favor of Malaysia. Vanessa held on to win the fourth to get Malaysia the title. In the men's final the opening two games looked good for Malaysia but Ng Eain Yow couldn't quite good on against Vijay Kumar. Vijay fought back to win the last three games to give India the lead. Again there was a rematch of the individual final between syafiq kamal and kush Kumar. This time though syafiq managed to get the win to draw the match to a decider. This was a brutal match of high intensity with both going at it for their countries. In the deciding match Darren Chan played a very steady game to look after madhav dhinga. Chan dictated the tempo and the the t area to give himself control of the match. A special thanks to all the helpers and volunteers who have been amazing this whole week. It's really different being part of a full games, a youth Olympics. What a day, what a sport hopefully the Olympics soon. |
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Team Event - Day 3 (22 Aug 2013) | |
The morning matches for the men confirmed the final positions for the pools before the afternoon matches for the semi finals. First women's semi final was between Malaysia and India, Malaysia got off to a good start with a win through Celine Yeap over Adya Advani. The next match was between the gold medallist from the individual event Vanessa Raj and Harsit Kaur. Vanessa started the match well getting off to a 2 games lead but in a short time that had all evaporated as Harsit fought back to take the match to a deciding fifth. Vanessa however regained her composure to win the fifth game and seal the tie for Malaysia. Hong Kong vs Japan were next on court and Hong Kong won the opening tie, however Satomi Watanabe pulled off a big upset when she defeated Pansy Chan in three tight straight games. It looked as though Satomi would throw away the second after leading 10-3 and then seen her lead closed to 10-9 but she got the point she needed to take a two game lead. Satomi just held on to win the third game 13-11 but Choi Uen Shen from Hong Kong sealed the win for Hong Kong with a convincing win. Hong Kong playing India in the first men's semi final proved to be a real classic and what team squash is all about. Lau Tsz Kwan recovered from yesterday to beat Madhav Dhinga in four games. Kush Kumar similar to the other gold medallist led two games to love before one big rally and he seemed to hurt his hamstring. From this point on the match turned and Tsun Yuen Hei regained the games and forced Kush all the way to an 11-9 fifth game. Kush levels the match for India. The decider was always going to be close Chris Lo against Vijay Kumar. The opening games were shared and it doesn't get more tense that one match each, two games all in the decider to see who will reach the final. Vijay it was who made it count slightly more to the final as India just scraped through. Malaysia playing Jordan was the last night for the evening, Darren Chan got Malaysia off to a better start with a win over Ali Assaf. Syafiq Kamal sealed the win for Malaysia with a close 13-11 in the fifth win over Mohammed Al Saraj. |
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Team Event - Day 2 (21 Aug 2013) | |
In the morning women's matches the order of the pools was decided, with Malaysia defeating Japan on the centre court and Hong Kong beating India on the side courts. Both matches went the way of the favourites, both countries winning 3-0. In tomorrow's semi finals Hong Kong will face Japan and Malaysia will play India. In the men's matches India topped their group with a win over Jordan, Jordan do seem likely to advance with them to the semi final stages after defeating Pakistan yesterday. Malaysia defeated Japan with Hong Kong defeating Kuwait. Indonesia got another win as they beat new comers Thailand and Pakistan got a win against Korea. In the evening matches the highlight match of the night had to be between Hong Kong and Malaysia to decide who tops group B. Malaysia got off to the better start when Darren Chan defeated Lau Tsz Kwan. The match looked in the bag when Chan held three match balls in the third but lost all three and then the game. In the next game he got it right again to give Malaysia the first point. Ng Eain Yow was next on court to take on Chris Lo and this was a brutal match that was full of emotions for both camps. At 2-1 to Chris and leading 9-6 it looked to be going to one match each but Yow hit back with five points to take it to a decider. The fifth was close but Chris just held a few points lead throughout the whole game and sealed it just 11-9. In the deciding match Syafiq Kamal played well to beat Tsun Yuen Hei in three games and seal the win for Malaysia. In the other matches of the night India defeated Pakistan 2-1 with Korea registering a win over China. Kuwait down to two players after one unfortunately got injured this morning beat Indonesia 2-1. Tomorrows likely semi final line up will be India vs Hong Kong and Malaysia vs Jordan. |
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Team Event - Day 1 (20 Aug 2013) | |
Yesterday champions were back in play today as the team event got underway in Nanjing, China. A men's and women's competition got underway with three players per team. India taking on Indonesia was the first match of the morning on the glass court as well as China taking on Japan. Japan beat the hosts 3-0 although the number one player for China is technically good. India also beat Indonesia by the same score line. In the women's evening matches China were back in action against the number one seeds Malaysia and they found the going tough although I'm sure they will have learned something from the occasion. Hong Kong played Indonesia on the glass court and delivered a 3-0 win. The men had two matches taking place today with the main match for a semi final spot being played on the centre court. Jordan claimed a win over Pakistan with a 2-1 victory which should put them in a semi final position. India wrapped up two wins to be top of group A so far. Malaysia secured two wins over Indonesia and Kuwait with Indonesia bouncing back in the afternoon to secure a win over Japan. Tomorrow should decide who finishes where in the groups and will clearer indications of who will play who in the semi finals. |