Hard work pays off: Sivasangari scripted the finest moment of her professional squash career by winning the London Classic. — Picture courtesy of PSA World Tour FB
PETALING JAYA: Malaysians came together to celebrate the smashing win by national squash player S. Sivasangari who beat world No. 2 Hania El Hammamy of Egypt in a thrilling London Classic final to become the first Malaysian woman to win a gold-level tournament.
Squash legend Datuk Nicol Ann David also made it to the final in 2015, when the series was first introduced.
What made Sivasangari’s victory special was that she beat three of the top four players in the world en route to the title.
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Sivasangari, who is now 13th in Professional Squash Association (PSA) world rankings, fought hard for 81 minutes to beat the much-vaunted Hania at the Alexandra Palace on Monday.
The Malaysian lass expressed her proud feelings on X.
“Proud of the squash I played this week in this beautiful venue and over the moon to capture my biggest title yet! Massive thanks to my team for always trusting in me along the way,” she wrote.
ALSO READ: Former world champ Nicol tells Sivasangari to make her own success
Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim was among the first to convey congratulations to Sivasangari for her triumph.
“Congratulations. May this victory pave the way for further successes in the future,” he wrote in a Facebook post.
Navinrshenoy posted on X that Sivasangari is an amazing player who always believed she had it in her to beat the top players.
“But this is pretty much a phenomenal effort. I hope that she rises to the top,” he wrote.
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SamPeriyasamy also commented that he was extremely proud of this Malaysian who motivated him.
“She experienced a serious accident and was admitted to the hospital with a severe injury. She bounced back and persisted, pushing herself to the limit. Her efforts paid off beautifully,” he added.
A Facebook user named James Chew said it was great achievement to beat the world’s top players in a week and hoped she could keep this form going.
An Instagram user known as Razak Rahman commented on Sivasangari’s wishes and said she would be getting a lot of prizes.
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“Boleh dapat title Dato soon (You can get a Datuk title soon),” he wrote.
Another user known as Fadzil Hafizi hopes Sivasangari can groom herself to be the next national squash queen after Nicol.
Tawfik Ismail, the son of Malaysia’s second deputy prime minister Tun Dr Ismail Abdul Rahman, also hailed Sivasangari’s victory as evidence of Malaysians’ ability to unite especially at a time when the nation is being plagued by various controversial issues.
“Sivasangari’s win is a good chance for us all to come together to celebrate and lift our spirits.
“It is clear that sports has the power to bring people together,” he said when contacted.
Moderation advocate Anas Zubedy said this positive news was a breath of fresh air that Malaysians badly needed after the nation was hit with many issues.
“Malaysians are yearning to feel good right now because we are going through some challenges in the last few months. We are feeling down and it’s good to have this.
“She gave a breath of fresh air after we had been having so much negative feelings. We are yearning to hear that we are doing well and successful.
“Thank you for reminding us that we have greatness in the country; wonderful, hardworking and humble people. It’s just that sometimes social media might highlight the more negative so it’s nice to have something nice to share,” he said.
