Asian Squash Championships: Malaysia’s Subramaniam upsets top seed Watanabe to reach women’s final
- Malaysian almost back to her best after car accident with straight games victory over world No 18
- Home favourite Simmi Chan on course to retain title for Hong Kong after beating compatriot Tomato Ho in semi-finals
Malaysian Sivasangari Subramaniam showed she has almost fully recovered from a car accident last year after upsetting top seed Satomi Watanabe of Japan in the semi-finals at the Asian Squash Championships on Friday.
The diminutive Malaysian gave her opponent little chance with a convincing straight games win, needing just 36 minutes to triumph 11-9, 14-12, 11-8.
Subramaniam was the world no 16 last June, two places ahead of the Watanabe current ranking, but then a car accident in Kuala Lumpur saw her need two surgeries and forced her to stay out of competition for seven months.
But her overwhelming victory over the top seed proved Subramaniam is close to being back to her best.
“I did expect a tough match as I have not played against her for quite a while may be the last time in 2018,” said Subramaniam, who will now meet Hong Kong’s Simmi Chan Sin-yuk in the final.
“Watanabe has been playing very well on the professional circuit and even though I wouldn’t go into the match with a losing mindset, I would expect a difficult match. But I am so happy to have played well today. As I play more matches, I can be getting better and close to my 100 per cent.”
Now ranked 50th in the world, Subramaniam is hoping to improve her position, thereby getting a better draw in tournaments, especially with the Asian Games looming.
