THE Malaysia Games (Sukma) was national squash player Aifa Azman’s third back-to-back tournament within a month but the courageous Kedahan overcame physical exhaustion to claim her first girls’ individual squash title.
The top seed had no problems defeating Chan Yiwen of Federal Territories 11-7, 11-1, 3-11, 11-3 in the final at the Ipoh City Council Squash Arena yesterday.
Sukma is her third competition after having played her part in the Asian Games in Jakarta last month and the women’s world team championships in Dalian, China, which ended on Sunday.
She arrived at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) in Sepang from China at 8am on Monday and rushed to Ipoh to play her first round match at 2pm against Chloe Chieng Shiao Shuen of Sawarak.
And despite the tiring journey, she came back from a set down to win 7-11, 11-3, 11-0, 11-5.
And three hours later at 6pm, Aifa was back at her feet to beat Jessica Kang Jia Hui of Sabah 11-4, 11-7, 11-5 in the quarter-finals.
Aifa was back in the court for the semi-finals at 10am yesterday against Ooi Kah Yan of Negri Sembilan and she won the first set 11-3 and was leading 5-3 in the second set before her opponent withdrew due to a knee injury. Just hours later, she nailed the title.
The Under-17 British Junior Open champion admitted she was physically and mentally drained but was pleased to accomplish the job for Kedah.
“I hardly had any sleep as I took the flight from China on Sunday night and arrive here on Monday morning. Despite that, I’m more than happy to help Kedah retain the individual gold,” said Aifa.
Kedah’s S. Sivasangari won the individual gold in Sarawak Sukma in 2016.
Meanwhile, Ng Eain Yow won the boys’ individual title with an easy 11-5, 11-1, 11-6 win over Ryan Neville Pasqual of Penang in the final.
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