MALAYSIA’s women’s squash singles champion S. Sivasangari is set to end 2023 with a bang after being ranked world number 15 by the Professional Squash Association today.
Sivasangari was previously ranked 16th and managed to move up a rung based on her achievements in several previous tournaments, Utusan Malaysia reported.
These included winning the Tuanku Mukhriz Trophy in August and gaining her second title in the Hong Kong Open Football Club Squash Championship last month.
It is an encouraging improvement considering Sivasangari had just returned to the squash court actively this year after being sidelined for seven months due to being involved in a road accident.
She defeated second seed Aira Azman 11-8, 11-8, 11-9 in 26 minutes in the women’s final of the Tuanku Muhriz Trophy in Seremban on August 29.
In Hong Kong, she needed just 34 minutes to beat Egypt’s Amina Orfi – the junior world champion in 2022 and 2023 – 11-9, 11-8, 11-5 in the final.
Sivasangari, who was Malaysia’s flag-bearer at the Asian Games in Hangzhou in October, also won gold in the women’s singles event at the Olympic Sports Centre there.
She triumphed over Hong Kong’s top seed Chan Sin Yuk 8-11, 15-13, 10-12, 11-9, 12-10 in the 64-minute final. It was her second Asian Games title.
In June last year, she was involved in a horrific road crash along the Maju Expressway in Kuala Lumpur – about a month before the July 28-August 8 Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games – and there were questions about her future in squash.
But she regained her fitness and confidence in time to be named Asian Games flag-bearer with track cyclist Muhammad Shah Firdaus Sahrom.
Another Malaysian who rose in global rankings was men’s singles squash player Ng Eain Yow, who climbed one spot to No.18, Utusan Malaysia reported. – The Vibes, December 5, 2023.
