SEA Games: Sweet double joy for Singapore in jumbo squash

KUALA LUMPUR – There was double joy for Singapore on Thursday afternoon (Aug 24) as they struck gold in both the men’s and women’s jumbo squash doubles at the 29th SEA Games.

Debutants Mao Shi Hui and Sherilyn Yang defeated Philippines' Jemyca Aribado and Yvonne Alyssa Dalida 11-5, 11-8 at the Raintree Club, before Vivian Rhamanan and Samuel Kang triumphed 11-3, 11-3 over Indonesian pair Ade Furkon and Agung Wilant.

After taking the first set without much fuss, the women’s pair weathered a strong response from their opponents in the second and went 2-6 down.

But they dug deep and reeled off eight straight points to take control and see out the match to clinch gold in the event, which was included in the Games for the first time. 

“I think they definitely changed their strategy a little bit so we tried something different,” Mao, 25, said. “We just looked at each other and knew it was now or never because if the lead got bigger, they’d get more confident.

Referring to Aribado, the world no. 98, Yang, 23, added: “She’s a very good singles player so any loose shot I give her, my partner will suffer. We just had to make sure we didn’t make it difficult for each other.”

Victory was sweet for the pair, who trained twice daily, full-time, for the last four months. Mao, a management consultant and McKinsey & Company, took six months off work to do so, while Yang made use of her summer break from Franklin & Marshall College in the United States.

“I was thinking of doing an internship but I decided I’m going to give my all for the SEA Games and train full-time together with her,” Yang said. “We’ve put in a lot of effort and this is amazing, the win is a bonus.”

The partnership was a late swop too, as Mao was teaming up with someone else previously and Yang was pencilled in only for the team and singles events.

“There was just strong camaraderie, we’ve played with each other since young in the Under-15 and 17 levels,” said Mao, whose elder sister Shi Yuan won two bronzes in 2015. “We know and complement each other very well, she’s very steady, more of a shot maker, so it’s a good pairing.”

“We had a very close semi-final match yesterday, which actually helped us and made us aware of what we needed to improve on,” Kang reflected.

“We were able to make those adjustments this morning and mentally as well. In the end, the favourites tag actually helped us as we were more confident going in and able to execute well.”

Rhamanan, who won the event in 2015 with Marcus Phua, started training with new partner Kang almost two years ago and have not lost a tournament together since.

“We are both back players but we figured out he’s awesome at the back and I’m alright at the front and somehow it’s worked,” the 31-year-old said.

“We’ve known each other since we were juniors and our friendship played a part, we trusted and had each other’s back no matter what.”

Kang, who won individual bronze and team silver in squash in 2015, was delighted after recovering in time from a back injury to win his first gold.

“It’s really special, ever since I saw them (Rhamanan and Phua) win two years ago, I’ve been wanting this so bad and training very hard,” said the 27-year-old Pioneer Junior College teacher, who took three weeks off before the Games to prepare and recover.

“We’ve played really well together and this (gold) means so much.”

It was a proud moment for Rhamanan to win in front of his two children, Travis, five and Tia, 3, though he turned a little sombre when asked how his quest for a podium finish at next year’s Asian Games was going.

He is known as the only squash professional in Singapore, but still has to work as a coach due to insufficient financial support.

“I’m really lucky I have sponsorship from Marigold and SSRA (Singapore Squash Rackets Association) but that just covers my tournament trips and not my allowance,” he said.

“We are competing against Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia, who are all training professionally and covered on a monthly basis so they can do this full-time.

“So going into the Asian Games with this kind of preparation, I don’t see myself winning a medal, but if I can prepare professionally like the others, I’m sure I will be able to get a medal.”