Marcus takes Commonwealth Youth squash gold

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Marcus Sim proudly displaying the gold medal he won at the recent Commonwealth Youth Games

Marcus Sim proudly displaying the gold medal he won at the recent Commonwealth Youth Games

KUCHING: Sukma team bronze medallist Marcus Sim Wei Jie had a fruitful outing at the Commonwealth Youth Games in Samoa from Sept 5-12. The 18-year old from Kuching, who is now training full-time with the national youth squad at Bukit Jalil, Kuala Lumpur, bagged his first gold medal in an international competition where he won the men’s doubles title with teammate Farez Izwan.

They beat Australian pair Alex Eustace and Joseph White 2-1 (11-8, 8-11, 11-10) in the final. Finishing in third place were representatives from Norfolk Island.

“I am very happy and proud for being able to contribute to the national team and this is my biggest achievement so far,” Marcus said yesterday.

In the squash competition of the Commonwealth Youth Games, Malaysia made a clean sweep of all the five gold medals at stake, the men’s singles, women’s singles, men’s doubles, women’s doubles and mixed doubles. Marcus is now looking forward to the Bukit Jalil leg of the Professional Squash Association (PSA) Malaysian Tour Squash Circuit in November.

“I hope to get through the qualifying round,” said Marcus who was eliminated in the second round of the Sarawak leg at The Sarawak Club squash courts in July. After skipping the Penang leg which clashed with the Commonwealth Youth Games, Marcus said he will also play in the Kuala Lumpur leg at Royal Lake Club also in November.

He started playing squash at the age of nine under the influence of his father Sim Chin Kheng who used to play at The Sarawak Club.

He has a younger sister Nathalie, 12, who also plays squash. “I hope to be a good player like Azlan Iskandar one day,” said Marcus of his idol.