Squash ace bags two titles with different partners

Fruitful day: Harith Danial Jefri (centre) celebrating with Low Wa Sern and K. Sehveetrraa.

BANGKOK: It was a marathon, jumbo task for Harith Danial Jefri - and he came out with flying colours.

The squash player bagged two gold medals, first in the mixed jumbo doubles and then in the men’s jumbo doubles. And he had to be in court for more than two hours.

The jumbo doubles are both physically and mentally taxing events played on longer and wider courts, with points difficult to come by.

Harith first teamed up with K. Sehveetrraa and they lived up to expectations by first winning gold in the mixed jumbo doubles taking down Philippines’ Jonathan Reyes-Aerra Relano 11-5, 11-2 in 33 minutes at the Vajiravudh College in Dusit.

Harith then partnered Low Wa Sern to win the men’s jumbo doubles against the Philippines’ again, with Reyes and Chris­topher Buraga this time, 11-4, 8-11, 11-5.

It took them an exhausting 92 minutes to seal the gold.

For the 20-year-old Sehveetrraa, the win comes after a tough year which saw her skipping many tournaments due to injury.

“It feels surreal. I had the target to get gold but I had set my expectations low,” she said.

“This whole year has been tough because I was injured at the end of last year and had surgery earlier this year. I barely competed this year.”

Harith let out a huge sigh of relief after his double win, saying that the jumbo doubles relies more on mental strength than physicality.

“It was a long match and I’m just filled with emotions,” said Harith.

“The jumbo doubles are more about our mental strength. We know that physically, we are good and can handle things on court.

“In the third set in the men’s jumbo doubles, Wa Sern just told me to stay focused. That’s what I did,” said Harith.

Wa Sern admitted that things got a little shaky for them in the third set.

“We played well at the start but I did feel I may have gotten a little too confident and my shot hit the tin.

“Because of my mistake, Harith also slipped up. But what mattered is that we bounced back,” he said.

This is the first time Malaysia fielded players in the jumbo doubles category, although it was contested in the 2015 Singapore and 2017 Kuala Lumpur editions.