KUCHING: Two Sarawak mixed doubles squash pairs, Altamis Aqhar Sallam A Sufian – Eugenia David and Harith Danial Jefri – Nathalie Shu Eng Sim, will face each other in the semi-finals today after eliminating their respective opponents yesterday afternoon.
In the match held at the Sarawak Squash Stadium, Altamis Aqhar Sallam A Sufian – Eugenia David dominated the game by defeating the Negeri Sembilan pair, Yu Jie Chen – Isaac George Varughese Vivek, with scores of 11-5 and 11-10.
Meanwhile, Harith Danial Jefri – Nathalie Shu Eng Sim defeated Wen Min Oii – Izz Nabil Iman Shahrizan Azrol with scores of 11-3 and 11-4.
In the upcoming clash that will take place today, both Sarawak teams will compete against each other, with the superior team advancing to the final.
According to Sarawak SUKMA Squash head coach, Athar Ali, both pairs have done their best to ensure Sarawak achieves its target of winning medals.
“Tomorrow (today), they will face each other. We cannot predict who will advance to the next stage.
“For me, whoever is the best tomorrow can go far ahead, while for the team that is not as fortunate, they will try their best afterwards.
“However, all Sarawak athletes have given an impressive performance throughout SUKMA,” he told reporters after the tournament yesterday.
This stellar performance provides great hope for Sarawak to continue challenging for the championship and winning medals in the Mixed Doubles category at SUKMA 2024.
Meanwhile, the hopes of Sarawak’s male and female squash players, Hi Jia Rong and Whitney Isabelle Wilson, to advance to the semi-finals were dashed after suffering defeats yesterday.
This failure saw Hi Jia, 20, and Whitney, 20, fall short in their mission to secure gold medals in the SUKMA XII Games for Sarawak.
In the third-round matches held at the Sarawak Squash Centre in Petra Jaya here, Hi lost to Joachim Chuah Han Wen from the Federal Territory with a score of 0-3.
Meanwhile, in the women’s singles category, Sarawak representative Whitney Isabelle Wilson also faced the same fate, losing 0-3 to Sabah player Xin Ying Yee.
These defeats meant that Sarawak failed to advance to the semi-finals in both the men’s and women’s singles squash categories.
