Sri Lanka beat Singapore creating history | Sunday Observer

Sri Lanka beat Singapore creating history

2 January, 2022
Ravindu Laksiri-Shamil Wakeel
Ravindu Laksiri-Shamil Wakeel

Sri Lanka’s leading men’s squash duo Ravindu Laksiri and Shamil Wakeel excelled at the concluded 20th Asian Squash Team Championships held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia early this month.

They did well to beat Indonesia 2-1 and also emerged victorious against Singapore, a country that has never lost to Sri Lanka in the history of squash. These victories cemented Sri Lanka’s position to 10th place in Asia for the first time since 2012.

Ravindu’s and Shamil’s excellent performances were inspiring and brought pride to the island nation according to squash officials.

For the first time since 2012, the Sri Lanka squash team won the tenth place at the 20th Asian Team Squash Championship.

The women’s team did well to beat Philippines 2-1 in their team event to register their only win.

Fresh from the Asian team event in Kuala Lumpur, the Sri Lankan players took wing to Islamabad, Pakistan to participate in the 21st Asian Individual Squash Championship.

Unfortunately, Sri Lanka faced only the top ranked players as most countries did not turn up and the Sri Lankans were knocked-out in the first round.

The organisers had even scrapped the Plate event due to lack of players in the tournament. Even Pakistan had only one player who reached the semi-final.

The advantage that the Sri Lankan players got was to become members of the PSA (world squash body) that will give world ranking points when the players participate in world ranked events. This will also allow the Sri Lankan players to participate anywhere in the world.

The other advantage they had was to practice with Pakistan’s leading players free of charge for five consecutive days. This should have given the Sri Lankan players better knowledge on how to improve on their own game for the future/

The squad that contested both these tournaments were Ravindu Laksiri, Shamil Wakeel, Methmal Wood, Fathoum Issadeen and Yeheni Kuruppu.

Results: (Men)

Beat Singapore 2-1:
Shamil Wakeel beat Man Tong

11-8, 8-11, 13-11, 11-9.

Ravindu Laksiri beat Chi Lang

11-6, 11-9, 11-9.

Methma Wood lost to Jon Widjaji 2-11, 5-11, 1-4.

Beat Indonesia 2-1

Shamil Wakeel beat A. Wilant

11-6, 11-5, 11-4.

Ravindu Laksiri beat A. Fukon

11-7, 11-13, 11-6, 11-4.

Methmal Wood lost to Bagus

Laksana 11-9, 8-11, 4-11, 4-11.

Women’s results:

Beat Philippines 2-1:

Fathoum Issadeen beat L. Reyes 8-11, 11-4, 11-5, 11-4.
Yehini Kuruppu beat Alyssa Dalic 11-7, 11-6, 11-3.
Chanithme Sinaly lost to Jemyca Aribado 1-11, 10-12, 13-11, 8-11.

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