KUCHING: Gregory Chan edged Cliffird Tay 3-2 to win the Premier title of the recent Kuching Closed and Audrey Melissa Hilton Smith Memorial Challenge Trophy at the Sarawak Squash Centre in Petra Jaya.
In the final, Gregory raced to a 1-0 lead after wining the first set 11-8 but lost 7-12 and 8-11 in the next two sets.
However, he bounced back strongly in the fourth and fifth sets to win 11-8 and 11-8 to lift the challenge trophy.
Kevin Wong finished third and JJ Kueh was fourth.
Gregory capped a double when he partnered Clifford to defeat JC Kueh-Harraz in the doubles while in joint third were Nathalie Sim-Charlize Goh and Eugenia Sulan-Brodie Tsen.
The champion of the Veteran category was Donald Tan who beat Joseph Ting in the final while Andy Tan and Richard Law were third and fourth respectively.
In Division 1, Desmond Ong beat Albert Chin for the crown while in third and fourth placings were Eugenia Sim and Ian Chew.
The Division 2 champion was Ngui Yong Jie after he beat Izzat Agil in the final.
Bill Chan and Aiman Abdullah finished in third and fourth positions respectively.
Top four winners in the Grassroots 1 were Zul Fadzly, Nur Ifti Fatiha, Isabel Goh and Ngui Yong Hao.
Marcus Jimok Dealwis, despite only playing squash for three months, put up an impressive performance to finish second to Jowen in Grassroots 2. In third and fourth spots were Alya Shafiqah Ramzi and Sha Sha respectively.
Audrey’s parents David Hilton Smith and Janet Kho were also invited to the closing ceremony to give away the challenge trophy to Gregory.
Many were moved to tears when a video clip on Audrey was played, bringing back fond memories of one of Sarawak’s finest squash talents.