Malaysia gets top billing

By Raju Chainani

KUALA LUMPUR, DEC. 11. Malaysia has been given pride of place in the inaugural HEAD Asia Cup squash which starts on Wednesday afternoon here at the NSC Courts.

Home advantage and crowd support will play it's part but the line-up of Ong Beng Hee and Kenneth Low with Mohammed Azlan as the men's reserve and the much improved Sharon Wee with Tricia Chuah as the women's reserve does look formidable.

The Malaysians are in Group A along with Japan, Singapore and Korea. Neither should trouble the host but the grouping is subject to a protest from Jordan which feels it should have been seeded higher. It is the current Gulf champion but having missed July's Asian seniors at Hong Kong, it is short of brownie points. Japan on the other hand, beat Singapore in the

Asian and could be pushed.

Pakistan's men have ensured it gets the number two seeding. Amjad Khan, Mansoor Zaman and Aijaz Ahmat (reserve) should have enough ammunition to get the two rubbers required to win each tie in the group but its woman player Bushra Haider is an unknown quantity. Pakistan is in Group B with Hong Kong, Jordan and Sri Lanka.

The sponsor, HEAD, has punched in RM 70,000 (approximately US$ 18,000) for the event with half this amount going towards the prize money. HEAD has signed a three year deal with the Asian Squash Federation thereby securing the future of this event.

The groupings: Group A: (1) Malaysia: Ong Beng Hee, Kenneth Low, Mohammed Azlan Iskander (reserve), Ms. Sharon Wee, Tricia Chuah (reserve); (4) Japan: Yoshihiro Watanabe, Kimihiko Sano, Takehide Hota (reserve), Ms. Mami Nishio, Chinatsu Matsui (reserve); (5) Singapore: Mohammed Rizal, Dermadi Ali, Benson Siew (reserve), Ms. Della Lee, Joannah Yue (reserve); (8) Korea: Ryun-Hoe Ku, Yong-Hee Lee, Ms. Eun-Ok Park, Young-Jin Kang (reserve).

Group B: (2) Pakistan: Amjad Khan, Mansoor Zaman, Aijaz Azmat (reserve), Ms. Bushra Haider; (3) Hong Kong: Faheem Khan, Roger Ngan, Adrian Fong (reserve), Ms. Rebecca Chiu; (6) Jordan: Mohammed Al Saad, Yazen Hijazi, Ms. Majed El Najada; (7) Sri Lanka: Hirantha Goonesena, Janaka Suwaris, Ms.Yasmin Zarook.

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