The finalists (from left) Syafiq, Addeen, Tong and Rachel gather after the prize presentation.
KUCHING: Addeen Idrakie lived up to his status as the tournament top seed when he outplayed Mohd Syafiq Kamal 3-0 in the final of the 5th Leg of the PSA Malaysian Tour Squash Circuit at The Sarawak Club squash courts on Friday.
The 21-year old from Selangor beat his training partner 11-6, 11-4, 11-6 in 41 minutes to lift his first title in the circuit on his third attempt, having reached the quarterfinals in the first leg. He received US$902 while Syafiq picked up US$617. “I am so happy that I won here.
I played well today, I stuck to my game and it all went well for me. To me, Syafiq is a good player and I used my experience to win the game.
“Syafiq is my training partner, It was good that we both got into the final. We train under the same coach Peter Geneva who is a national coach,” said the men’s team gold medallist and singles silver medallist at the recent Singapore SEA Games. Before coming to Kuching, Addeen was set on doing well. “Yes, I had expected to win here as I am the top seed.
I just focused on my game and my strategy worked out alright for me,” he added. He is now setting his sights on three more US$5,000 events in Australia next month before returning to play in the 7th Leg of the Malaysian Tour Squash Circuit.
“I will be playing in two tournaments in Melbourne and one in Sydney,” he revealed. Tong Tsz-Wing of Hong Kong, who upset top seed Vanessa Raj 3-1 in the semifinals, won the women’s title after labouring for 66 minutes to edge tournament second seed Rachel Arnold 3-2. It was a battle of endurance as Tong came back from two sets down 11-13, 4-11 to beat Rachel 11-8, 11-4, 11-4 and walk away with the champion’s trophy and US$902 while the latter received US$617.