HANGZHOU – National squash player S. Sivasangari narrowly beat Hong Kong’s Chan Sin Yuk to clinch the Asian Games women’s singles gold at the Hangzhou Olympic Sports Centre Squash Court here today.
The 24-year-old won the match 8-11, 15-13, 10-12, 11-9, 12-10 in a 64-minute battle.
Sivasangari, who recovered from a horrific road accident last year, also won the women’s team gold on Saturday.
The world 37, fondly known as Sangari, advanced to the final after stunning top seed Satomi Watanabe of Japan 11-8, 11-8, 11-4, while Sin Yuk ousted compatriot Ho Tze Lok 11-4, 11-5, 11-8.
Sivasangari took silver in singles at the 2018 Jakarta-Palembang Asian Games after losing to former world number Datuk Nicol David in the final and won bronze in the team event.
Nicol won the women’s singles gold medal five times (1998, 2006, 2010, 2014, 2018) and silver once in 2002.
Earlier, Mohammad Syafiq Mohd Kamal-Aifa Azman had to be satisfied with silver in the mixed doubles after going down 10-11, 10-11 to top seeds Dipika Pallikal-Harinder Pal Singh Sandhu of India.
Meanwhile, the Malaysian contingent finally hit the 27-medal target with the silver medal contributed by young kata exponent, Lovelly Anne Robberth.
In the final of the women's individual kata final at the Linping Sports Centre Gymnasium here, the 19-year-old athlete from Penampang, Sabah, had to settle for the silver after garnering only 39.80 points against Japan's Kiyou Shimizu, who clinched the gold with 42.60 points.
This is Shimizu’s third consecutive gold in the event, after winning it in 2014 and 2018.
The 29-year-old Shimizu is also the silver medalist in the same event at the Tokyo Olympics 2020.
The bronze was jointly won by Sakura Alforte of the Philippines and Grace Lau from Hong Kong.
Lovelly Anne’s achievement today also allowed her to match the silver medal won by Lim Lee Lee in the 2002 edition in Busan, South Korea.
The medal also ended a 13-year wait for the Malaysian karate squad to step onto the podium in the kata event at the Asian Games since Lee Lee's bronze win in the 2010 edition in Guangzhou, China. – Bernama, October 5, 2023
