KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia’s hopes of finishing in the top eight of the men's World Team squash championship in Marseille, France, looks slim in the absence of national No. 2 Ivan Yuen.
He has been ruled out of the competition, which begins on Monday, after suffering from chest pains while training at the National Squash Centre in Bukit Jalil a few days ago.
The 27-year-old Ivan has been replaced by Addeen Idrakie for the world team meet.
Malaysia’s challenge will be led by national No. 1 and world No. 31 Nafiizwan Adnan. The others are Ng Eain Yow and Mohd Syafiq Kamal.
“He has been complaining of chest pains during training. We believe it’s due to muscle strain,” said Maniam.
“Ivan is undergoing medical tests, so we have replaced him with Addeen.”
A total of 24 teams will feature in the world team meet. Ninth-ranked Malaysia have been drawn in Group H with India and Austria.
Malaysia will open their campaign against eighth-ranked India on Tuesday before facing Austria on Wednesday.
The top two teams from each group will advance to the next round.
The last-16 matches will be played on Nov 30, the quarter-finals on Dec 1, semi-finals on Dec 2 and final on Dec 3.
Maniam admitted that India were the favourites to top the group.
Defending champions England will face a tough task defending their title with the presence of three-time champions Egypt.
Egypt will be powered by three of the world’s top four players – world No. 2 Karim Abdel Gawad, No. 3 Mohamed Elshorbagy and No. 4 Ali Farag.
“We should not have problems defeating Austria and moving to next round,” said Maniam.Malaysia, powered by Ong Beng Hee and Azlan Iskandar, finished eighth in the Mulhouse, France, 2013. The 2015 edition in Cairo was cancelled due to security concerns.
Read more at https://www.thestar.com.my/sport/squash/2017/11/24/msias-world-team-squash-target-looks-slim-without-ivan/#3HT65e5uybEWiqPe.99
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