The semi-finalists have been confirmed for the 22nd Asian Team Championship in Dalian, China, after an exciting day of action.
In the men’s event, defending champions India crashed out at the hands of old rivals Pakistan, with Muhammad Asim Khan and Noor Zaman beating Rahul Baitha and Suraj Kumar Chand either side of a loss for Nasir Iqbal against Velavan Senthilkumar. They will take on Hong Kong, China, who moved past Iran after wins for Henry Leung over Navid Maleksabet and for Tsz Kwan Lau over Sepher Etemadpour.
Malaysia and Japan will contest the other semi-final after Malaysian duo Addeen Idrakie and Eain Yow Ng comprehensively overcame Singapore’s Jerome Aw and Samuel Kang and Japan’s Tomototaka Endo and Ryunosuke Tsukue got the better of Republic of Korea’s Minwoo Lee and Jeongmin Ryu.
In the women’s event, the semi-finals will be contested by Malaysia v Japan, and Republic of Korea v Hong Kong, China after the four teams finished in the top two spots in Pools A and B.
In an entertaining clash, defending champions Hong Kong, China, got the better of Japan to finish top of their Pool B and send Japan second, with Tsz Wing Tong and Ka Yi Lee overcoming Akari Midorikawa and Risa Sugimoto either side of a loss for Tomato Ho at the hands of Satomi Watanabe.
In the last ties in Pool A, meanwhile, Republic of Korea’s Hwayeong Eum, MingYeong Heo and Chaewon Song took down India’s Pooja Arthi Raghu, Rathika Suthanthira Seelan and Sunita Patel while Malaysia’s Aifa Azman, Rachel Arnold and Aira Azman cruised past Mongolian trio Myadagaa Dogsom, Ariunbileg Altankhuyag and Saran Khishigbaatar in a total of 38 minutes.
Action from the final of the 22nd Asian Team Championships on June 16 will be streamed live and free on WORLDSQUASH.TV, while all the results are available at asiansquash.org.
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