KUALA LUMPUR: NATIONAL elite players Ivan Yuen and Zulhijjah Azan, both representing Universiti Putra Malaysia, bagged the men’s and women’s Division 1 Higher Learning Institute’s 1Malaysia second leg squash championships in Bukit Jalil recently.
Both missed the opening leg at Universiti Malaya held late last month due to it clashing with other tournaments but returned to dominate the field at the National Squash Centre.
Ivan was in Qatar for the Men’s World Championship where he made it to the main draw while Zulhijjah played in the Women’s World Team Championship where Malaysia finished second behind England in Canada.
Top seed Ivan beat national teammate Addeen Idrakie Bahtiar of Universiti Malaya 11-8, 11-9, 11-8 while UPM’s Amir Farhan Ampandi finished third after edging Shaun Kwan from Nilai University 12-10, 11-9, 8-11, 11-7.
“I was confident of winning as I had a good preparation for the tourney,” said the 24-year-old Ivan, who is currently the national No 3 after Ong Beng Hee and Nafiizwan Adnan.
“Besides, it’s the last championship of the year. I will be taking a break now as I have to focus on my final exams (business administration) which is due in two weeks time. Credit to Addeen for putting up a good challenge.”
Addeen, who reached the Royal Lake Club Open quarter-finals recently, was happy with his performance.
“I’ve never beaten Ivan in all my previous three meetings but yet I was happy with my performance. I think I did reasonably well to justify my No 2 seeding in this tournament,” said the first leg winner.
Women’s top seed Zulhijjah had an easier time against Jadeleen Lee of Sunway University, winning 11-3, 11-9, 11-3 while Ilya Kareena Ibrahim of Universiti Teknologi Mara settled for third place after beating Mahsa University’s Sima Padbod 11-8, 11-7, 11-6.