News

Macau Squash Association has successfully hosted the first WSF Level 1 Coaching and Refresher Course 2017 on 2 & 3 and 9 & 10, September. The course, which was tutored by Lim Chee Ming, the Head Coach of Macau Squash Association, has attracted total 19 participants.

Congratulations to the Macau Squash Association as well as the participants.

Photo Caption:

Mr. William Kuan Vai Lam, Chairman of Macau Squash Association (middle in the front row), Mr. Lim Chee Ming, the Course Tutor (right in the front row) and the other tutor (left in the front row) with the participants of the WSF Level 1 Coaching and Refresher Course 2017. 

Our President Mr. David Mui, MH JP, met with Mr. Thomas Bach, President of the International Olympic Committee and Mr. Sheikh Ahmad Al-Fahad Al-Sabah, President of the Olympic Council of Asia for lunch during the 2017 National Games of China in Tianjin.

“I took this great opportunity to thank both presidents for their support of ensuring squash to be remained in the 2018 Asian Games in Jakarta, Indonesia and introducing the sport into the Buenos Aires 2018 Youth Olympic Games. At our meeting, I also introduced the successful development of squash in Asia and in the World over these years and lobbied them to support squash into the 2024 Olympic Games. Their feedback was very positive. They also reassured us of showing great appreciation to the work we've done as well as encouraging us to keep up with the good work," said Mr. Mui.

"I wish the 2024 Olympic Bid all the success,” Mr. Mui concluded with faith.

The 24^th Asian Junior Individual Championships 2017 has come to a successful conclusion on Saturday, 19 August at Amman, Jordan. At his hometown, Mohammad Al-Sarraj wins Jordan the first-ever Asian Junior Under 19 Boys’ Individual Championship title by beating his Pakistani opponent Mansoor Zaman in 5 sets. On the other hand, the Japanese top junior woman’s player, Satomi Watanabe, also brings home the first gold medal of the Asian Junior Under 19 Girls’ Individual Championship.

Besides, Macau China also made history of having their first medal in the Asian Junior Individual Championships after its girls' player Yeung Weng Chi finished co-3rd with Navmi Shama of India in the Girls' Under 17 Category.

The 5-day Championships has attracted the top junior squash players from 13 Asian countries to compete in the eight categories: Boys and Girls, each with Under 19, Under 17, Under 15 and Under 13 four age group. Malaysian Team is again the big winner of the Championships of gaining 5 Golds in the Boys Under 17, Under 15 and Under 13 as well as in the Girls Under 15 and Under 13 respectively. The all-Hong-Kong-final of the Girls Under 17 Category allows Hong Kong to clinch one gold medal.

“Congratulations to all the winners and the member nations. I would also like to thank Jordan Squash Federation, who made the Championships all the success and a wonderful memory for all the participants. Thanks should also be extended to all the officials, referees and the parents,” said Mr. David Mui MH, JP, the ASF’s President.

Please click here for the full set of draws and results. For photos of the events, please download from the facebook of the Jordan Squash Federation, who will continue to upload more photos.

Results of the 24th Asian Junior Individual Championships 2017

BU19

Gold - Mohammad Al-Sarraj (Jordan)

Silver - Mansoor Zaman (Pakistan)

Bronze - Alireza Shameli (Iran) / Abdul Malik (Pakistan)

BU17

Gold - Xiow Yee Xian (Malaysia)

Silver - Tushar Shahani (India)

Bronze -  To Wai Lok (Hong Kong, China) / Danial Nurhaqiem Bin Shah Izham (Malaysia)

BU15

Gold - Muhammad Amir Amirul Bin Azhar (Malaysia)

Silver - Neel Joshi (India)

Bronze - Danial Gharooni (Iran) / Asad Ullah (Pakistan)

BU13

Gold - Joachim Chuah Han Wen (Malaysia)

Silver - Yuvraj Wadhwani (India)

Bronze - Paarth Ambani (India) / Mohammad Huzaifa Ibrahim (Pakistan)

GU19

Gold - Satomi Watanabe (Japan)

Silver - Ho Ka Wing (Hong Kong, China)

Bronze - Ashita Pranaya Bhengra (India) / Sunayna Kuruvilla (India)

GU17

Gold - Chan Sin Yuk (Hong Kong, China)

Silver - Lui Hiu Lam (Hong Kong, China)

Bronze - Navmi Shama (India) / Yeung Weng Chi (Macau, China)

GU15

Gold - Jessica Keng Jiai Hui (Malaysia)

Silver - Kiroshanna Manoharan (Malaysia)

Bronze - Ananya Dabke (India) / Yoshna Singh (India)

GU13

Gold - Aira Azman (Malaysia)

Silver - Lam Tse Yee, Toby (Hong Kong, China)

Bronze -  Tam Mariko Cho Nga (Hong Kong) / Yuvna Gupta (India)

The 24th Asian Junior Squash Individual Championships 2017 will kick off tomorrow in Amman, Jordan. This top junior squash event, which will be held from 15 to 19 August, has attracted 128 players from 13 countries, which include Hong Kong China, India, Iran, Iraq, Japan, Jordan, Korea, Lebanon, Macau China, Malaysia, Pakistan, Qatar and Sri Lanka.

Amongst the participating countries, both India and Sri Lanka sent the biggest teams with 32 junior players each to fight for medals of the 8 Age Categories. 

For the full draws and update results of the Championships, please visit the event website.

This summer, Asian players shone again in the world squash arena and demonstrated their impeccable skills and strength in different world events. 

At the WSF World Junior Squash Championships, which was held 19 – 29 July in Tauranga, New Zealand, Mohammad Al Sarraj from Jordan and Satomi Watanabe clinched the bronze medal in the World Junior Men’s and Junior Women’s Individual Championship respectively. For the Junior Women’s Team event, Malaysia and Hong Kong also won a silver and a bronze medal respectively.

“Junior development has always been the top priority of the sport in the region. I’m pleased to see the rewarding results of our member nations, especially for the Japan Squash Association, who has won their first-ever medal in the World Junior Championship. I would like to congratulate them on making this historic achievement. Congratulations would also go to all winners and the participating countries,” said Mr. David Mui, MH JP, the ASF’s President.

On the other hand, the Asian senior players, who don’t want the juniors to outshine them, also gained outstanding results in the World Games Squash Championships and the WSF World Doubles Squash Championships. 

Joey Chan from Hong Kong and Nicol David from Malaysia won a silver and a bronze medal respectively in the World Games Women’s Squash Championship, which was held in Wroclaw Poland. While in the WSF World Doubles Squash Championships in Manchester, England, India’s Joshna Chinappa and Dipika Pallikal also brought home a World Women’s Doubles’ bronze medal.

The Buenos Aires 2018 Youth Olympic Games Organizing Committee (BAYOGOC) has confirmed that squash would be included as a showcase sport at the Youth Olympic Games 2018 in Buenos Aires, Argentina October next year.

"It is exciting, yet encouraging news! After our hard work and persistent lobbying throughtout these years, we are delighted to see squash is moving step by step towards the ultimate goal of Olympic Games inclusion," said Mr David Mui, our President, who has been heavily involved in Squash Olympic Bid since the 2012 Hong Kong Open, a successful inspection event hosted by Hong Kong Squash (where Mr Mui is the Chairman) for the International Olympic Committee's inspectors for the 2020 Olympic bid.

The Games Organising Committee would take the Youth Olympic Games to the next level as an event for all young people to participate. The Committee would introduce the “four-parks concept”, which would allow participants to experience "a fusion of elite sport competition, music, culture and arts festivals, sport initiation, showcasing and educational programmes". And squash has been chosen to be part of this as a showcase sport.

"This fruitful result is definitely a collective work of our squash colleagues. I would like to congratulate WSF and the Olympic Games Commission. The impeccable leadership of all the presidents over the years, specially Jacques Fontaine, the current president, Mr. Ramachandran, Mr. Jahangir Khan and Susie Simcock (past presidents), as well as the hard work of the colleagues at the WSF Olympic Games Commission has made this happen," continued Mr. Mui.

For details of the Youth Olympic Games 2018, please visit the official website.

The first-ever ASF Level 2 Coaching Course hosted by the Japan Squash Association was successfully concluded on 25 June 2017, in Kanagawa in Japan. The course tutored by Miyuki Adachi (Japan), has attracted 8 participants.

"I am very happy to see that there are more member nations hosting the ASF Level 2 Coaching Course. There were one hosted by Macau Squash Association in May, the JSA had its last Sunday, and there will be one to be held in December in Tehran, Iran. This is definitely a good sign for the sport in Asia, especially on the coaching aspect," commented by Tony Choi, the ASF Coaching Director. "I would like to take this opportunity to thank JSA and Miyuki for hosting and conducting such a successful course. I would also like to express my sincere appreciation to Major Maniam, who took his time to be the supervisor of the course."

Photo Caption:

Mr Tony Choi, ASF Coaching Director (3rd from the right on back row), Ms Noriko Kamiya, Secretary General of JSA (far right on back row), Major Maniam, supervisor of the course (2^nd from the right on back row), and Ms Miyuki Adachi, the course tutor (far left in front row), with the participants of the ASF Level 2 Coaching Course in Kanagawa, Japan in June.

The first-ever ASF Level 2 Coaching Course hosted by the Macau Squash Association was held over three weekends in April and May. Tutored by Tony Choi, the ASF Coaching Director and assisted by Dick Leung (Hong Kong, China), the course has attracted 7 participants.

Photo Caption:

Mr William Kuan Vai Lam, Chairman of the Macau Squash Association (5^th from the right), Mr Tony Choi (6^th from the right), the tutor and Mr Dick Leung (4^th from the right), the other tutor, with the participants of the ASF Level 2 Coaching Course.

The Presentation Ceremony of the 2016 ASF Awards was held in conjunction with the Prize Presentation Ceremony of the 2017 Asian Individual Chamionships on Sunday, 30 April in Chennai, India.

On behalf of the ASF, Debendranath Sarangi, ASF's Vice President presented the awards to the winners, who attended at the Ceremony.

Photo Captions

Top row (left to right):

• Cyrus Poncha (India) - Coach of the Year
• Lim Chee Ming (Macau, China) - Development Coach of the Year, receives the awards from William Kuan Vai Lam, President of the EASF (left) and Tony Choi, ASF Coaching Director (right)
• Masoud Ghareh Ziaeddini (Iran) - Coaches Certificate of Recognition

Middle row (left to right):

• Hong Kong Women's World Team 2016 - Outstanding Women's Team of the Year
• Max Lee (Hong Kong, China) - Dato Alex Lee Award
• Annie Au (Hong Kong, China) - Dato Alex Lee Award

Bottom row (left to right):

• Ng Eain Yow (Malaysia) - Hassan Musa Award
• Sivasangari Subramaniam (Malaysia) - Hassan Musa Award
• Hong Kong Men's Asian Team 2016 - The Most Improved Team of the Year

The Jio 19th Asian Squash Championships were concluded successfully yesterday at the Express Avenue Mall in Chennai, India. In front of the audience at the mall as well as their home fans watching the online live streaming provided by the organiser, Max Lee of Hong Kong and Joshna Chinappa of India claimed their first-ever Asian Men’s and Women’s Championships Titles respectively.

“Congratulations to Max and Joshna, our new Asian Champions, as well as other medal winners. I would also like to take this opportunity to show my sincere gratitude to The Squash Rackets Federation of India, Mr. Debendranath Sarangi, Chairman of the Organising Committee, his organising team and all the officials, who made such an incredible and wonderful event,” said our President, Mr. David Mui, MH JP.

For details of the match reports of the Jio 19th Asian Squahs Championships and the draws, please click here.

[Photo credit to Squashsite]

The Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) has confirmed that squash will remain in the sports programme for the 18^th Asian Games in Jakarta, Indonesia, after the persistent lobbying and hard work of our President, Mr David Mui.

"When we knew that the OCA would discuss with the Indonesia Asian Games Organising Committee (INASGOC) to reduce the sports programme of the 18^th Asian Games and squash was considered to be dropped, we immediately act accordingly to seek support and assistance from relevant OCA's officials and INASGOC. I insisted that with the successful development of squash in the region these years, our beloved sport has to be one of the competition sports in the Asian Games," said Mr. Mui.

Mr. Mui continued, "I would like to specially thank our Patron, Mr. N. Ramachandran, who has provided tremendous assistance and influence on the issue. My sincere appreciation would also go to the Persatuan Squash Indonesia and all those who have been working hard to strive for the inclusion of squash into the 2018 Asian Games."

There will be four events: Men’s and Women’s, Team and Individual, for the sport. Details of the announcement of the OCA, please refer to the OCA’s website.

In a week, the Jio 19th Asian Squash Championships 2017 will debut in Chennai, India. Top squash players from all over the region will perform their superb skills in front of the fans, from the preliminary rounds at the Indian Squash Academy and on the Glass Court at the Express Avenue Central Atrium, with the quarter-finals onward to take place at the Express Avenue Central Atrium.

The Championships, which will be held from 26 to 30 April, have attracted 28 women’s players from 8 regions include Hong Kong China, India, Iran, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Philippines and Singapore to participate in the Women’s event. On the other hand, Jordan, Nepal, Pakistan and Qatar together with the above regions sent total 42 men’s players to participate in the Men’s Event.

Max Lee and Annie Au from Hong Kong, China are the top seeds for the Championships while the host country’s Saurav Ghosal and Joshua Chinappa take the second positions. For details and the full draws of the Championships, please visit the event website.

The 8th edition of the ASF's bi-annual e-newsletter, Squash Pulse, which covers what has happened since October 2016, is released.

Do Relax and enjoy the reading.

SQUASH PULSE #8

ASF Performance Awards 2016

Dato Alex Lee Award – Outstanding Performance of the Year (Senior) 

• Men: Max Lee (Hong Kong, China)
• Women: Annie Au (Hong Kong, China)

Hassan Musa Award – Outstanding Performance of the Year (Junior)

• Boy: Ng Eain Yow (Malaysia)
• Girl: Sivasangari Subramaniam (Malaysia)

ASF Award – Outstanding Team of the Year

• Men's Team:  Pakistan Men's Team 2016
• Women's Team: Hong Kong Women's World Team 2016

ASF Development Award – The Most Improved Team of the Year

• Hong Kong Men's Asian Team 2016

ASF Coaches Awards 2016

Coach of the Year

• Cyrus Poncha (India)

Junior Coach of the Year

• Ong Beng Hee (Malaysia)

Development Coach of the Year

• Lim Chee Ming (Macau, China)

Coaches Certificate of Recognition

• Wong Wai Chung (China)
• Mosoud Ghareh Ziaeddini (Iran)

Congratulations to all award winners. Besides, we would also like to thank the paricipating member nations as well as the selection panel.

The recruitment of Head Squash Coach in the Hong Kong Sports Institute is now open for application. For details, please clicks the following website: -

http://www.hksi.org.hk/opportunities/job-openings/head-squash-coach/

The Bright Smart Securities 18^th Asian Junior Team Championships came to a successful conclusion today after two exciting boys’ and girls’ finals at the Hong Kong Squash Centre.

Top seed India defeated the defending Champion Malaysia 2-0 to claim the Asian Junior Men’s Team title. It is the second time for the Indian boys to win this title, the earlier was in 2011 in Sri Lanka. Hong Kong China and Pakistan both finished bronze.

For the Asian Junior Women’s Team event, defending Champion Malaysia beat Hong Kong China 2-0 in the final to retain its title, while Japan and Singapore claimed the co-third.

ASF would like to thank Hong Kong Squash for hosting the event, as well as the officials, referees and helpers who made a successful yet memorable event.

Please visit the official site of Hong Kong Squash for the full results.

The Annual General Meeting of the Asian Squash Federation was successfully concluded today in Hong Kong. At the AGM, David Mui, MH JP was re-elected the President of the ASF.

“I deeply appreciate the trust and support the member nations gave me in the last four years. It has been a great pleasure to work with all members for promoting and developing our beloved sport in Asia,” said David.

At the meeting, Won-Kwan Kim and Fayez Abdullah Almutairi were re-elected as the Vice Presidents. Besides, Debendranath Sarangi, who was newly elected, took the remaining Vice Presidency.

“I would like to welcome Mr. Sarangi. I believe his expertise will bring new idea to the Office. The new Management Committee will continue the good work together with all member nations for another four years to pursue the objectives of the ASF,” added David.

The biennial Asian Junior Team Championships commence today at the Hong Kong Squash Centre in Hong Kong, China. The event has attracted 12 countries and regions with almost a hundred promising junior athletes to compete for the Asian Junior Men’s and Women’s Team titles.

Chinese Taipei, Hong Kong China, India, Japan, Korea, Macau China, Malaysia, Singapore and Sri Lanka sent both their boys’ and girls’ teams, while Iran, Joran and Pakistan had their boys’ teams to participate in the Championships.

We would like to thank Hong Kong Squash for hosting the Bright Smart Securities 18th Asian Junior Squash Team Championships 2017 and we also wish all the participating teams and officials every success in the Championships.

For detail report of the Championships, please visit the official website of Hong Kong Squash.

We are pleased to confirm the dates of the three major championships in 2017 as follows:

• the 18th Asian Junior Team Championships to be held in Hong Kong from 1 to 5 February;
• the 19th Asian Individual Championships to be held in Chennai, India from 26 to 30 April; and
• the 24th Asian Junior Individual Championships to be held in Amman, Jordan from 15 to 19 August.

Thanks should go to Hong Kong Squash, the Squash Rackets Federation of India and Jordan Squash Federation for hosting the events.

We look forward to the active participation from all member nations.