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Everything Asian
The year
2004 ... it was for Asia |
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Alex Wan looks at 2004
from an Asian perspective ...
2004 saw Asia bustling with activities, something we here in this
continent so need. Having seen Pakistan dominate the men’s rankings
some years back, a non-squash following person would expect Asia to
be a lot more involved in the sport.
It has not happened for a very long time, but things are beginning
to look bright. For a squash-loving Asian, this “revolution” brought
about a lot of excitement.
Now, if only it would get bigger and never smaller… |
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New Events, New Nations
New events making their debut in Kuwait, Bahrain, Brunei and
Shanghai was a real good sign of promising times. And these were
not small tournaments. All were WISPA tournaments, but Kuwait had
the men as well.
In a way, we can lay claim that Asia made quite a contribution to
the $1m prize-money mark that the WISPA tour achieved last year.
Kuwait, only some 13 years ago a war torn country, not only
hosted a mega event, they proved a point at the Asian Championships,
where 16 year old prodigy Abdullah Khalid Mazayin shocked
Hong Kong’s Wong Wai Hang and India’s Saurav Ghosal to make the
quarter-finals of the individual event. In the team event, the men
made the semi-finals where they lost out to eventual champions
Pakistan. |
Juniors Progress
Pakistan hosted the World Junior Men’s in August, where Egyptian
youngster Ramy Ashour swept aside the competition to be
crowned champion. In the final, Ashour brushed aside local hopeful
Yasir Butt 3-0 in the final. Ashour went on to complete a great year
with a win in his maiden PSA event and a semi final appearance in
the season ending Malaysian Men’s Open.
Later in the month, the Cathay Pacific Hong Kong Open made a
comeback, having been withdrawn from the tour due to SARS. Peter
Nicol fell unexpectedly to Adrian Grant and Nick Matthew made his
first major PSA final there, only to see world champion Thierry
Lincou win convincingly. |
Women's Squash a hit in Asia
Vanessa Atkinson pretty much single handedly conquered Asia
in 2004. She won 8 titles in the year, of which 6 were won here in
Asia and she remains unbeaten in Malaysia. Starting from the KL Open
in February, she also won in Brunei, both the Qatar events, the
Malaysian Women’s Open and of course the biggie, the Women’s World
Open in KL. Well, I included Qatar, since I suppose I can argue it
is part of Asia.
 Oh,
and how can I forget our very own Nicol David. After an
amazing semi final appearance at the Women’s World last year, she
repeated her feat in our own backyard last month. David started the
year at 10th in the WISPA rankings and now stands at a career high
number four.
The other Malaysian worth a mention is Azlan Iskandar, who
claimed 3 PSA titles this year, including the season ending Country
View Malaysian Open.
If that’s not enough for Asia, well, Atkinson won her world title on
Asian soil and the men’s world champion Lincou, well, he is half
Chinese, isn't he?
Alex Wan |
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