(From left) Squash Racquets Association of Malaysia president Datuk Syed Mustaffa Syed Ali, Royal Lake Club president Teoh Cheng Hai, main sponsor Datuk Seri Hadian Hashim and Dr Yap Chung Mui at the launch of the Royal Lake Club Open on Monday.
KUALA LUMPUR: Squash Racquets Association of Malaysia (SRAM) president Datuk Syed Mustaffa Syed Ali believes that having more tournaments of a smaller scale in Malaysia will benefit the back-up and junior players in the country.
Malaysia have a good junior programme but the youngsters are still light years from achieving the level of world No. 1 Nicol David and national No. 2 Low Wee Wern. The men’s squad are also crying out for quality replacements as national No. 1 Ong Beng Hee is already 33 and nearing the end of his career.
As such, Syed Mustaffa believes the Royal Lake Club Open, a Professional Squash Association (PSA) Tour event from Oct 7-12, is a perfect platform for the juniors to show their mettle.
“SRAM strongly support this initiative by the Royal Lake Club. The tournament is now upgraded with the prize money increased to US$15,000 (RM48,967) compared to US$10,000 (RM32,645) last year,” said Syed Mustaffa during the launch of the event.
“The KL and Malaysian Opens are the two main events in the country. But we need a lot more of these smaller tournaments to focus on these juniors and to offer them more opportunities for exposure. We hope to see more sports clubs and states following in the footsteps of the Royal Lake Club because we definitely need more tournaments and sponsors.”
Syed Mustaffa thanked club member Datuk Seri Hadian Hashim who forked out US$10,000 to sponsor the tournament.
The remaining US$5,000 was provided by SRAM.
“Hadian has been helping a lot of our young players financially. We are grateful to him. Hopefully, there will be more corporate figures who will follow in his footsteps too,” said Syed Mustaffa.
The Royal Lake Club Open has attracted a strong field with Beng Hee and national No. 2 Mohd Nafiizwan Adnan the top two seeds. Others in the field are world No. 43 Omar Abdel Meguid and world No. 45 Mazen Hesham Ga Sabry of Egypt and Asian Games silver medallist Aamir Atlas Khan of Pakistan.
Besides Beng Hee and Nafiizwan, three other Malaysians – Ivan Yuen, Elvinn Keo and Sanjay Singh – will play in the main draw. Six others – Mohd Addeen Idrakie, Valentino Bong, Mohd Hannan Tarmidi, Gurshan Singh, Mohd Syafiq Kamal and Ng Eain Yow – will go through the qualifiers.
There will also be a Women’s Squash Association (WSA) Tour event – the US$10,000 Penang Open – which will be held at the same time as the Royal Lake Club Open.
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