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SEA Games: Singapore's squash players hope for more support after historic men's team gold

KUALA LUMPUR — First he looked up briefly, then dropped his racket before lifting both hands to his head in disbelief as the significance of the moment sunk in.

The Singapore mens squash team pose with their gold medals after competing against The Philippines in the SEA Games mens squash team finals on August 29, 2017. Photo: Jason Quah/TODAY

The Singapore mens squash team pose with their gold medals after competing against The Philippines in the SEA Games mens squash team finals on August 29, 2017. Photo: Jason Quah/TODAY

KUALA LUMPUR — First he looked up briefly. Then he dropped his racquet before lifting both hands to his head in disbelief as the significance of the moment sunk in.

Having just won the point that gave Singapore its first SEA Games men’s squash team gold in 22 years, Samuel Kang knew exactly what the triumph meant.

“It’s massive,” were the first words the 26-year-old uttered as he faced the media after the Republic defeated the Philippines 2-1 at the Nicol David Arena at Bukit Jalil’s National Squash Centre on Tuesday night (Aug 29).

“It’s one-all and you are playing the decider for the gold medal (so) there were nerves, but I tried to visualise this morning and last night… every possible scenario, so that helped me calm down a little bit.

“I’ve played this guy before, I’ve been working very hard and I’m confident in my abilities. I knew I had to stay strong as everyone is going to give their best in the final (but) with the crowd behind me, I managed to push on and get the win.”

After debutant Pang Ka Hoe, 21 drew first blood with a 3-0 (11-1, 11-3, 11-6) win over world no. 400 Reymark Begornia, world no. 280 Robert Andrew Garcia hit back for the Philippines with a 3-1 (11-8, 9-11, 11-8, 11-9) win against Benedict Chan, 20, another Games first-timer.

It was left to Kang to bring it home for Singapore in the decider and he delivered, triumphing (11-4, 11-4, 11-5) against David William Pelino, who is ranked 153 places higher at world no. 350.

Chan said: “I didn’t have any doubt in my mind that Sam would come through for us and he did in spectacular fashion. He’s been one of the most reliable guys I know and I’d trust him with my life to play the decider.”

Kang, who had won the jumbo squash doubles with Vivian Rhamanan last week, acknowledged that it was a now-or-never opportunity for Singapore to make history against the Philippines, who had upset favourites Malaysia in the semi-finals on Monday.

“We knew we had a huge opportunity to play well and get that gold so we just reminded each other to be confident, stay focused and play our best,” the Pioneer Junior College teacher said.

“So I’m just very glad to have these guys alongside me, together with Vivian, they all played well today so it was huge for us.”

TEAMWORK

The gold was achieved without Rhamanan, the top-ranked local player at world no. 182, who was carrying a glute injury sustained on Saturday during their group stage win against the Philippines.

The 31-year-old praised the achievement as a team effort, making sure to thank the coaches and backroom staff, Singapore Squash Rackets Association president Woffles Wu, who flew down to watch the match, and sponsor Marigold.

Kang added: “You see the four of us standing here, but it’s crazy (when you think about) the amount of work people have put into us.”

Rhamanan was also quick to praise junior players Pang and Chan for rising to the challenge of playing at senior level.

“I think the future is really bright for Singapore squash,” he beamed. “We’ve separated the boys from the men and they’ve actually stepped up today and performed to their best and I’m sure Samuel and everyone else is extremely proud of them.”

The gold is Singapore’s fourth in the men’s team and first since Peter Hill, Anthony Chua, Ernest Tan and Zainal Abidin won in 1995 at the Chiangmai Games. In the subsequent years that the team event was included in 1997, 1999, 2001 and 2015, Singapore always finished second to Malaysia. Rhamanan and Kang were part of the team that won silver two years ago.

Their female compatriots also made it to the final but fell 1-2 to defending champions Malaysia, who recorded a sixth consecutive gold in the team event.

Pamela Chua beat Ooi Kah Yan 3-2 (12-10, 4-11, 11-4, 7-11, 11-9) in the first match, but Andrea Lee topped Mao Shi Hui 3-0 (11-8, 11-6, 11-6) to draw Malaysia level before Aifa Azman sealed a 3-0 (11-4, 11-6, 11-4) win over Sneha Sivakumar to complete the comeback.

The last Singapore women’s team to win gold was the class of 1993, which Mah Li Lian, Lina Ong, Della Lee and Josephine Choo. Singapore would lose to Malaysia in the finals for the next four editions, after which the team event was not contested until its return two years ago, where Singapore picked up bronze.

Mao noted that the silver is an improvement and was pleased with their performance against younger but more experienced opposition.

“I think overall, we are really, happy with the result and how we played,” said the 25-year-old, who won gold in the jumbo doubles with Sherilyn Yang.

“Moving forward, it gives us sort of a benchmark to work towards. We came into this seeded third and we upset Indonesia, so I think it’s an improvement (from before).”

SUPPORT NEEDED

Having swept the men’s and women’s jumbo doubles titles last Thursday, Singapore ended their squash campaign in Kuala Lumpur with three golds, two silvers (men’s doubles, women’s team) and five bronzes (men’s and women’s doubles, men’s and women’s singles, mixed doubles).

The players are hopeful that their showing will lead to increased awareness and more support for the sport. Kang noted that the likes of Malaysia, Philippines and Indonesia are training full time, while Pang pointed out the lack of facilities.

“These guys (Pang and Chan) just came out of NS (National Service) and they’ve been training full time for just six to eight months, while Vivian is doing coaching and playing and I am working and playing as well,” Kang said.

“Showing that we can achieve something even when we are training like that is a huge motivation for us and hopefully it’ll be a motivation for other people playing the sport as well.”

Pang added: “We play in events such as the international doubles and we don’t have any of those courts in Singapore, so we have to base ourselves overseas to train. Thankfully, we did quite well and got the medals but if we have the courts, who knows, we might have done better.”

Their thoughts were echoed by Rhamanan, the only professional squash player in Singapore, who believes the future is bright if the sport can be backed properly.

“This hard work has been going on for six months and these boys and myself have actually got no proper funding from Sport Singapore,” he said.

“But we did not think about that, we had a goal in mind, and we were out there to get this gold medal and we’ve achieved this… we hope this will give us more financial support so we can groom our junior players.”

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