Nafiizwan hopes to break into top 50 by year’s end
Monday July 21, 2008
Nafiizwan hopes to break into top 50 by year’s end
By AFTAR SINGH
KUALA LUMPUR: Mohd Nafiizwan Adnan is the third ranked Malaysian men’s squash player but lagging far behind the country's top two in the world list.
The Terengganu lad, who turned pro five years ago, is ranked 66th while Ong Beng Hee and Mohd Azlan Iskandar are in 11th and 13th place respectively.
“I should be close to them but sad to say, I am very far behind the country’s top two players. It is not good for me as the country's third ranked player. I have to narrow the gap quickly,’’ said Nafiizwan, who has won three professional tournament – all on the NSC Satellite circuit.
The 22-year-old hopes to break into top 50 by end of the year.
“I will play nine tournaments over the next five months and I hope to create few upsets to achieve my goal,’’ said Nafiizwan, who is down to compete in the Saudi Arabian, Qatari and World Open tournaments and also a few events in Europe.
In the CIMB Malaysian Open, which begins today with the qualifying rounds, Nafiizwan has a place in the main draw as a wild card entry and he will play against third seed Azlan in the opening round.
“I have never beaten Azlan before and I doubt that I will be able to do so in the Malaysian Open,” he said.
Beng Hee, who was the first Malaysian to win his home Open in 2000, is the second seed.
Nafiizwan’s elder brother Nafzahizam, who is the national number four, will feature in the qualifying tournament together with Elvinn Keo, Mohd Asyraf Azan and Ivan Yuen.
The Malaysian women in the qualifying tournament are Sharon Wee, Low Wee Wern, Lim Yoke Wah, Siti Munirah Jusoh, Pushppa Devi and Tan Yan Xin.
The two-day qualifying tournament and first round matches of the championships will be held at the National Squash Centre in Bukit Jalil. Matches from the quarter-final stage on Thursday will be played at the Curve in Mutiara Damansara.
