Malaysia and Hong Kong, China will contest the 22nd Asian Team Championship finals after semi-final victories for the men’s and women’s teams in Dalian, China.

In the contest of the day, ten-time champions Malaysia got the better of Japan 2-1 in the women’s event. 19-year-old Aira Azman got Malaysia off to the perfect start with a a commanding 19-minute win over Risa Sugimoto, only for Japan – targeting a first ever place in the final – to hit back through Satomi Watanabe, with the World No.14 putting in a brilliant performance to edge past World No.10 Sivasangari Subramaniam 11-5, 7-11, 12-10, 12-10.

Any hopes of a shock Japan win were brutally snuffed out in the deciding match, though, as Rachel Arnold eased past 18-year-old Akari Midorikawa 3-0.

Defending champions Hong Kong, China, meanwhile, proved much too strong for Republic of Korea, with Ka Yi Lee and Tomato Ho seeing off Chaewon Song and MingYeong Heo in straight games to reach the final for the 15th time.

In the men’s event, 2018 champions Hong Kong, China recovered from a troubled start to overcome Pakistan, who yesterday knocked out defending champions India.

Ming Hong Tang looked in danger when he went a game down to Farhan Mehboobm before mounting an impressive comeback to secure a 3-1 win, with Tsz Kwan Lau then beating Muhammad Asim Khan by the same scoreline to send the No.2 seeds through to the final.

Top seeds Malaysia, meanwhile, made short work of No.5 seeds Japan, with Syafiq Kamal giving the four-time champions a great platform with a quick victory over Naoki Hayashi before Eain Yow Ng took down the dangerous Ryunosuke Tsukue 3-0.

The finals of the Asian Team Championship takes place tomorrow, June 16, from 13:00 (GMT+8) and will be streamed live and free on WORLDSQUASH.TV.

Keep up with all the results from the 22nd Asian Team Championships at asiansquash.org.

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