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Wednesday September 12, 2012

Cramps dash Ivan’s hopes of qualifying for the main draw

KUALA LUMPUR: Ivan Yuen’s hopes of qualifying for the main draw of the CIMB Malaysian Open squash competition for the first time were dashed by cramps yesterday.

The two-time Asian junior champion was involved in a gruelling match against world No. 35 Karim Abdel Gawad of Egypt.

The 100-minute battle took its toll on world No. 63 Ivan, who will celebrate his 22nd birthday on Saturday, and Karim eventually prevailed 11-9, 9-11, 11-4, 9-11, 14-12.

“My legs were cramping towards the end and that really affected me because I just couldn’t push as I hard as I wanted to,” said Ivan.

“I didn’t play too bad because Karim is a very good player and ranked very much higher than me. In the end I was just really unlucky.”

The other Malaysian in the qualifiers, Mohd Asyraf Azan, also failed to make the grade after going down fighting 15-13, 7-11, 5-11, 6-11 to the immensely talented Abdullah Al Muzayen of Kuwait.

Malaysia’s challenge will now be carried by veteran Ong Beng Hee and Mohd Nafiizwan Adnan. Both, however, face tough challenges in the first round of the main draw today.

World No. 21 Beng Hee will be up against world No. 20 Nicolas Mueller of Switzerland while Nafiizwan faces fourth seed Adrian Grant of England.

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