31 August 2013
- Malaysian Ivan Yuen defeated Australia's Rex Hedrick to reach the
semi-finals of the Pro Squash in Japan Yokohama, the PSA World Tour
Challenger 10 event at Yokohama Squash Stadium SQ-CUBE in Yokohama
City, Japan.
But it took the
unseeded 22-year-old from Kuala Lumpur - ranked 63 in the world - 102
minutes to justify his higher ranking over the event's No4 seed with
his 6-11, 11-5, 10-12, 12-10, 11-6 quarter-final 'upset' over world
No68 Hedrick (both pictured in action below).
Yuen goes on to meet
Hong Kong's Leo Au for a place in the final after the No2 seed was
taken the full distance by Ahmad Al-Saraj before beating the Jordanian
teenager 5-11, 11-9, 9-11, 11-5, 13-11 in 89 minutes.
Qualifier Yuta Fukui,
the local hero ranked 169 in the world who delighted the Yokohama crowd
by ousting third seed Muhd Asyraf Azan in the first round, was unable
to progress further - going down 13-11, 11-7, 13-11 to India's world
No66 Harinder Pal Sandhu.
Sandhu will face top
seed Omar Abdel Meguid in the other semi-final after the Egyptian
despatched Taiwan's James Huang 11-8, 11-8, 11-8.
Quarter-final day
opened with a major press conference (see picture below) held in
cooperation between the Japan Squash Association and Pro Squash in
Japan.
"Seven TV stations and
12 newspapers were there to report on our sport, which could soon be
chosen as the next sport to join the 2020 Olympic Games," said event
spokesman Hiromi Komae. "The Japanese media has been giving a lot of
attention to squash since it made it to the final three sports on the
list."
RESULTS: PSA Challenger 10 Pro Squash in Japan Yokohama, Yokohama City, Japan
Quarter-finals: [1] Omar Abdel Meguid (EGY) bt James Huang (TPE) 11-8, 11-8, 11-8 (33m) Harinder Pal Sandhu (IND) bt [Q] Yuta Fukui (JPN) 13-11, 11-7, 13-11 (42m) Ivan Yuen (MAS) bt [4] Rex Hedrick (AUS) 6-11, 11-5, 10-12, 12-10, 11-6 (102m) [2] Leo Au (HKG) bt Ahmad Al-Saraj (JOR) 5-11, 11-9, 9-11, 11-5, 13-11 (89m)
Semi-final line-up: [1] Omar Abdel Meguid (EGY) v Harinder Pal Sandhu (IND) [2] Leo Au (HKG) v Ivan Yuen (MAS)