Malaysia Squash Team Targets Fifth Place Finish in Denmark Tourney
The Malaysian men’s squash team is targeting a fifth place finish in an upcoming squash tournament which will be held in Denmark, equaling its feat two years ago.
According to reports, this target is considered realistic since the Malaysian team recognized that they don’t have the world’s best set of squash racketeers.
The 22nd edition of the World Men’s Team squash championship will take place in Odense, Denmark from September 27 to October 3, 2009.
Two years ago, the team finished fifth during the 21st edition of the Games held in Chennai, India. This is the best finish for the Malaysian team in their history of participation in this tournament.
Datuk A. Sani Karim, the Squash Racquets Association of Malaysia (SRAM) President, said that the team is now seeded fifth in a field of 28 participating countries. The team will be represented by Ivan Yuen, Ong Beng Hee, Mohd Nafiizwan Adnan and Mohd Azlan Iskandar.
The Malaysian team has been group with United States and Finland in Group E.
The top seed of this tournament is Egypt, followed by England (defending champion) and France (third seed). Australia placed fourth in the seedings while six-time champ Pakistan placed sixth in the seedings.
Karim admitted that they only targeted fifth because the Egyptian team is the most powerful contingent as of the moment. The Egyptian team is composed of three of the world’s top five players including world number one Karim Darwish, Ramy Ashour (no. 4) and Amr Shabana (no. 3).
