AFTER fighting his way into the main draw, Ivan Yuen found the going tough at the El Gouna International after Egypt's Mohamed El Shorbagy won their first round encounter in El Gouna, Egypt on Sunday.
World No 62 Ivan earned the praise of eighth-ranked Shorbagy, who won the pivotal second game to advance to the second round 11-7, 12-10, 11-6 in 34 minutes.
"Happy to get through in three but I was not surprised how well he played. He is one of the players I've been playing all through my junior years.
"Ivan is a very talented player. His ranking should be much better than this and I'm surprised that he has not risen faster because he really can do anything on court. I'm sure it will come soon," said Shorbagy.
In three PSA Tour tournaments this year, Ivan, 21, reached the final of the Hibiscus Gardens Open in Brisbane where he lost to Asian champion Nafiizwan Adnan and pushed eventual runner-up Adrian Grant of England close in the first round of the Kuala Lumpur Open.
Earlier, Ivan defeated a pair of Egyptians -- Essam El Sherif and Karim Ali Fathi -- to book his place in the main event but national teammate Kamran Khan, ranked 63rd, was upset by World No 238 Wael Farag of Egypt in the first round of the qualifiers.
Ivan will next head to Hong Kong for the Buller Cup on Apr 19-22 where is seeded third behind Hong Kong's Max Lee and Malaysian Asyraf Azan. By Devinder Singh
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