Kamal Moves into Malaysian Tour Main Draw

#PSAWorldTour

Second qualifying seed Mohd Syafiq Kamal was the only home player to advance through the qualifying stages of the Malaysian Squash Tour III, PSA M10 tournament after he saw off United States player Dylan Cunningham in four games.

Kamal, who reached the quarter-final stage of the Malaysian Tour’s previous instalment, found himself level with his opponent after both players took a game apiece but he soon pushed on to rack up an 11-8, 9-11, 11-7, 11-5 victory to see him through to the main draw action.

The 19-year-old will come up against Hong Kong’s Chi Him Wong for a place in the quarter-final, with Him Wong winning the pair’s only previous encounter on the PSA World Tour by a 3-0 margin.

Jordan’s Ahmad Al-Saraj will join Kamal in the main draw’s opening round after he dispatched Malaysian player Muhd Asyraf Azan 3-1 to reach the next stage. Al-Saraj went a game to the good and, despite being pegged back by Azan in the second, held firm to take the next two games to ensure he will face the main draw’s number two seed Piedro Schweertman next.

Spain’s Bernat Jaume is also through to the next round after he came through a thrilling five-game battle with Tang Ming Hong. Ming Hong took an extraordinary first game by a 20-18 scoreline, before Jaume took the second and the Spaniard eventually came out on top in a nail-biting fifth game to set up a main draw meeting with Pakistan’s Khawaja Adil Maqbool.

Ko Youngjo and Ravi Dixit went head-to-head in the final qualifying round’s other fixture, with Youngjo winning it in straight games to advance to the main draw, where he will do battle with title favourite Rex Hedrick.

Results – Final Qualifying Round: Men’s Malaysian Squash Tour III 2016
[1] Ahmad Al-Saraj (JOR) bt [6] Muhd Asyraf Azan (MAS) 3-1: 11-3, 7-11, 13-11, 11-6
[5] Bernat Jaume (ESP) bt [3] Tang Ming Hong (HKG) 3-2: 18-20, 11-5, 9-11, 11-7, 11-7
[7] Ko Youngjo (KOR) bt Ravi Dixit (IND) 3-0: 11-6, 11-9, 11-5
[2] Mohd Syafiq Kamal (MAS) bt [8] Dylan Cunningham (USA) 3-1: 11-8, 9-11, 11-7, 11-5

Main Draw – First Round
[1] Ahmad Al-Saraj (JOR) v [5] Bernat Jaume (ESP)
[7] Ko Youngjo (KOR) v [2] Mohd Syafiq Kamal (MAS)