Malaysian Tour II Gets Under Way

#PSAWorldTour

Spain’s Carlos Cornes Ribadas and home hope Vanessa Raj are the title favourites ahead of the upcoming Malaysian Squash Tour II, PSA M5 & W5 tournaments, respectively, which begin in Kuala Lumpur on Wednesday April 13.

World No.98 Ribadas is looking for the first PSA World Tour title of his career and will need to weather a great deal of local competition if he is to finally break his title drought.

Ribadas has struggled in recent tournaments, with a final qualifying round defeat and a first round elimination at his last two events, the Wimbledon Club Squash Squared Open and Qatar Circuit III, respectively.

However, Ribadas is one of the most experienced frontrunners for the crown and that could pay dividends as he looks to prevail in the latter stages of this tournament. Ribadas opens up against Eain Yow Ng in round one.

Malaysian second seed Sanjay Singh Chal is also in action and will be looking to ride the wave of fervent home support as he too looks to open his PSA World Tour title account.

Chal achieved two runner-up finishes on the 2015 Malaysian Tour with only defeats against compatriots Ivan Yuen and Elvinn Keo preventing him from capturing his maiden PSA World Tour crown. Chal kickstarts his tournament against wildcard Darren Rahul Pragasam and is seeded to meet Keo in the last four if both players make it that far.

Also in with a chance of lifting the title is Addeen Idrakie who is the only one of the top three seeds that has title winning experience on the PSA World Tour with three tournament wins to his name.

Idrakie’s silverware all came during the 2015 edition of the Malaysian Tour, with the most recent of those being won back in November of last year. The 22-year-old has been unable to make it past the first round of any events since that title win, but a return to his native Malaysia could result in a change in fortunes. Hong Kong qualifier Tsz Kwan Lau stands between Idrakie and a place in the quarter-final.

Keo is in the mix for honours as well and opens his tournament against qualifier Andrew Lee. The World No.131’s solitary PSA World Tour title came with his victory over Chal and he will be looking to push on from his last event, which saw him reach the semi-final stage of the Malaysian Tour Squash XI four months ago.

In the Women’s draw, Raj heads the field as she looks to improve on the three runner-up finishes she achieved on the 2015 Malaysian Tour. Her last PSA World Tour appearance saw her narrowly lose out to Hollie Naughton in the qualifying stages of last month’s Allam British Open.

Raj opens up her tournament against fellow Malaysian Nazihah Hanis as she looks to play to her seeding in front of her home crowd.

Norwegian second seed Lotte Eriksen makes her first PSA World Tour appearance in over a year as she bids to make a successful return to professional squash action.

Eriksen’s last success came in the midst of the 2014 Malaysian Tour where she dispatched Nouran El Torky to lift the crown at the No.9 edition of the series and will be hoping to rediscover her form in Kuala Lumpur. Nur Aliah Izzati is her opponent in the first round.

Main Draw: PSA M5, Malaysian Squash Tour II, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
[1] Carlos Cornes Ribadas (ESP) v Eain Yow Ng (MAS)
[Q] Tsun Hei Yuen (HKG) v [5] Valentino Bong (MAS)
[8] Muhammad Hannan (MAS) v Bernat Jaume (ESP)
[Q] Tsz Kwan Lau (HKG) v [3] Addeen Idrakie (MAS)
[4] Elvinn Keo (MAS) v [Q] Andrew Lee (MAS)

Muhd Asyraf Azan (MAS) v [7] Mohd Syafiq Kamal (MAS)
[6] Ahmad Al-Saraj (JOR) v [Q] Ryan Pasqual (MAS)
[WC] Darren Rahul Pragasam (MAS) v [2] Sanjay Singh Chal (MAS)

Main Draw: PSA W5, Malaysian Squash Tour II, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
[2] Lotte Eriksen (NOR) v [Q] Nur Aliah Izzati (MAS)
[Q] Aifa Azman (MAS) v [5] Sadia Gul (PAK)
[7] Lisa Camilleri (AUS) v Zoe Foo Yuk Han (MAS)
[Q] Andrea Lee (MAS) v [4] Lakeesha Rarere (AUS)
[3] Sivasangari Subramaniam (MAS) v Chan Yiwen (MAS)
Noor Shadira (MAS) v [6] Aika Azman (MAS)
[8] Sammer Anjum (PAK) v [Q] Satomi Watanabe (JPN)
Nazihah Hanis (MAS) v [1] Vanessa Raj (MAS)