Japan & Pakistan Complete Asian Games Team Semi-Final Line-Ups
30 Aug 2018
Today's final Squash qualifying action in the Asian Games Team Championships in Indonesia saw the women's team of Japan and the Pakistan men's team complete the semi-finals line-up at the Gelora Bung Karno Sports Complex in Jakarta.
Fourth seeds Japan faced rivals Republic of Korea to decide the second position in the women's Pool A - and a place in the last four knockout stage.
Honours were shared after the first two matches - Misaki Kobayashi winning for Japan before Ji-Hyun Lee levelled the tie for Korea. Teenager Satomi Watanabe clinched victory for the fourth seeds after defeating the Korean number one Yura Choi 11-7, 11-8, 12-10 - an emotional victory which put Japan into the semi-finals, with the certainty of a medal, for the first time.
It was in Pool A of the men's event that fourth seeds Pakistan battled with Republic of Korea for the final place in the other semi-final line-up. The 2010 gold medallists achieved their goal in style - Asim Khan, Tayyab Aslam and Israr Ahmed all beating their Korean opposition to secure second place in the pool.
The key clash in Pool B saw No.2 seeds India and third seeds Malaysia - both of whom were already certain of semi-final berths - go head-to-head for top position in the pool. Underdogs Malaysia clinched victory after wins by Eain Yow Ng and Ivan Yuen, second and third strings, respectively - but Indian number one Saurav Ghosal restored pride in the team by winning the third match, defeating Nafiizwan Adnan 11-5, 9-11, 11-8, 12-14, 11-7 in 58 minutes.
Meanwhile Indonesia's women's team showed their promise by recording their third shock win in Pool B. Seeded 10, the hosts beat Thailand 3/0 to record a hugely-impressive third-place finish in the Pool in their maiden appearance in the event.
Men's semi-final line-up:
[1] HONG KONG CHINA v [2] INDIA
[3] MALAYSIA v [4] PAKISTAN
Women's semi-final line-up:
[1] MALAYSIA v [3] INDIA
[2] HONG KONG CHINA v [4] JAPAN
Asian Games images courtesy of Aulia Dyan
Men's 4th & final qualifying rounds:
Pool A:
[1] HONG KONG CHINA bt [12] NEPAL 3/0
Leo Au bt Amrit Magar 11-6, 11-3, 11-6 (17m)
Yip Tsz Fung bt Arhant Simha 11-5, 11-9, 11-6 (19m)
Henry Leung bt Rajendra Shakya 11-2, 11-5, 11-3 (15m)
[4] PAKISTAN bt [5] REPUBLIC OF KOREA 3/0
Asim Khan bt Ko Youngjo 11-8, 12-10, 10-12, 11-8 (42m)
Tayyab Aslam bt Seung-Taek Lee 11-1, 11-5, 11-8 (18m)
Israr Ahmed bt Nyeon-Ho Lee 11-5, 11-4, 11-8 (27m)
[8] JAPAN bt [9] PHILIPPINES 3/0
Ryunosuke Tsukue bt Robert Garcia 11-4, 11-8, 12-10 (32m)
Tomotaka Endo bt David Pelino 12-10, 11-7, 13-11 (37m)
Ryosei Kobayashi bt Reymark Begornia 11-4, 8-11, 11-7, 11-5 (34m)
Final positions: 1 Hong Kong China, 2 Pakistan, 3 Japan, 4 Republic of Korea, 5 Philippines, 6 Nepal
Pool B:
[3] MALAYSIA bt [2] INDIA 2/1
Nafiizwan Adnan lost to Saurav Ghosal 5-11, 11-9, 8-11, 14-12, 7-11 (58m)
Eain Yow Ng bt Harinder Pal Sandhu 7-11, 11-3, 8-11, 11-3, 11-3 (55m)
Ivan Yuen bt Ramit Tandon 11-8, 9-11, 12-10, 11-7 (50m)
[7] SINGAPORE bt [6] QATAR 2/1
Timothy Leong lost to Abdulla Al-Tamimi 9-11, 7-11, 8-11 (22m)
Samuel Kang bt Syed Azlan Amjad 17-15, 11-4, 11-1 (33m)
Benedict Chan bt Abdulrahman Al-Malki 11-2, 11-4, 11-4 (23m)
[10] INDONESIA bt [11] THAILAND 3/0
Agung Wilant bt Sun Phat 11-3, 11-7, 6-11, 11-5 (30m)
Muhammad Nur Tastaftyan bt Natthakit Jivasuwan 11-9, 11-8, 8-11, 11-7 (32m)
Satria Laksana bt Chattaporn Juntanayingyong 11-5, 11-5, 11-6 (20m)
Final positions: 1 Malaysia, 2 India, 3 Singapore, 4 Qatar, 5 Indonesia, 6 Thailand
Women's 4th & final qualifying rounds:
Pool A:
[4] JAPAN bt [5] REPUBLIC OF KOREA 2/1
Satomi Watanabe bt Yura Choi 11-7, 11-8, 12-10 (35m)
Misaki Kobayashi bt Ahn Eun Tschan 12-10, 8-11, 11-5, 11-8 (33m)
Risa Sugimoto lost to Ji-Hyun Lee 12-10, 7-11, 5-11, 8-11 (38m)
[8] PHILIPPINES bt [9] PAKISTAN 2/1
Jemyca Aribado bt Faiza Zafar 11-6, 11-7, 11-6 (44m)
Yvonne Alyssa Dalida lost to Riffat Khan 11-8, 4-11, 11-7, 3-11, 11-13 (40m)
Regina Borromeo bt Amna Fayyaz 11-9, 11-8, 11-8 (23m)
Final positions: 1 Malaysia, 2 Japan, 3 Republic of Korea, 4 Philippines, 5 Pakistan
Pool B:
[2] HONG KONG CHINA bt [3] INDIA 2/1
Annie Au bt Joshna Chinappa 11-9, 11-6, 11-6 (28m)
Joey Chan bt Dipika Pallikal Karthik 6-11, 11-7, 11-5, 11-9 (37m)
Ho Tze-Lok lost to Sunayna Kuruvilla 11-5, 15-13, 6-11, 9-11, 12-14 (51m)
[6] CHINA bt [7] IRAN 2/1
Li Dongjin bt Ghazal Sharafpour 11-6, 11-6, 11-4 (24m)
Gu Jinyue bt Fereshteh Eghtedari 10-12, 6-11, 11-5, 11-7, 11-5 (48m)
He Xinru lost to Hadis Farzad 7-11, 6-11, 11-13 (20m)
[10] INDONESIA bt [11] THAILAND 3/0
Catur Yuliana bt Anantana Prasertratanakul 11-8, 11-7, 11-7 (25m)
Yeni Siti Rohmah bt Tuddaw Thamronglarb 11-1, 11-2, 11-2 (13m)
Irma Maryani bt Pranghatai Phongrattana 11-5, 11-6, 11-5 (18m)
Final positions: 1 Hong Kong China, 2 India, 3 Indonesia, 4 China, 5 Iran, 6 Thailand
