Chen Shanyu Wins Gold in Asian Squash Championships at Home Court Advantage

The 20-year-old Chen Shanyu made her debut in the Asian Championships two years ago and stopped in the top 8. She was listed as the 5th/8th seed in this year’s tournament and successfully reached the final, competing with Malaysia’s Siva Sangjiali for the championship. The 24-year-old Malaysian golfer is the silver medalist of the women’s singles in the 2018 Jakarta Asian Games. He was also ranked 16th in the world. However, he needed to rest due to a car accident in June 2022. He only returned to participate in the world tour earlier this year, and his ranking was affected. Xia recently dropped to 50th place, and is now 11 places lower than Chen Shanyu. The two have played against each other twice this year. Chen Shanyu won the American University National Individual Championship final 3:1 in March, but conceded 0:3 to the opponent at the British Open in April.

Today, they played against each other again in the final of the Asian Championships. Chen Shanyu attacked under the one-sided cheer of the home audience. He scored 5 points in a row at the beginning of the game and successfully took the lead with 11:6. The Hong Kong generals took advantage of the victory in the second game to pursue, but when they led by 3 points in the middle, they were turned back by their opponents, and they lost 9:11 and were equalized. Chen Shanyu then played with mutual lead until “Diao Shi” won the third game 14:12, but lost 3:11 in the fourth game, but Hong Kong will come back to the decisive game and win 11:1 with 10 points in a row , won the gold medal with a score of 3:2. This time is also the second time in a row that Hong Kong players have won the women’s championship since Tang Zhiying was crowned queen last time.

After the game, Chen Shanyu pointed out that regaining the lead in the fifth game depended on mentality adjustment: “My style of play was the same from the beginning to the end, but in the fourth game I was anxious to win, but the ball was not in place and gave my opponent many opportunities. The coach reminded me to play calmly. I I think if the quality of each ball is slightly different, the results will be very different.” She also thanked the home audience for their support: “I know there are audiences who come to watch my game, and some people watch the live broadcast from a distance. Thank you very much. Their support. It may be a little stressful to play here on the first day, because I don’t want to let everyone down, but I have gradually gotten used to it in the past few days. The voice of support is my motivation, and sometimes I fall behind because their encouragement makes me concentrate .”

Chen Shanyu said in the interviews in the past few days that she did not specifically aim for medals, but only hoped to play well in each game. She said that she is happy with the results and is more satisfied with her progress: “From the year before last to compete In international competitions, I hope to enter the Asian Games. I have played a lot of games and tried my best to improve my rankings. I will be included in the list of the Asian Championships this year as expected, and I will play well in the competitions. I am satisfied with the whole process.” With my own confidence and encouragement, I hope to strive for another success in the Hangzhou Asian Games, which is postponed to September this year.

Head coach Zheng Peide is satisfied with the results and looks forward to the Asian Games to compete for medals

As for the men’s final, Malaysia’s Ng Eain Yow defeated India’s Velavan Senthilkumar 11:4, 11:5 and 11:6 in straight sets to complete the defending title. The Hong Kong team finally finished with 1 gold and 2 bronzes in this year’s tournament. The head coach Peter Genever said he was satisfied with the results and praised the bronze medalist Liang Zixuan for his good performance. No. 1 seed Liu Zijun will gain experience in this competition and perform better in the future.

Zheng Peide continued to point out that this Asian Championship gave the Hong Kong team the confidence to prepare for the Asian Games. He hoped to win 5 medals in Hangzhou, and he was confident to achieve good results in the women’s singles event where the Hong Kong team failed to stand on the podium last year: “We have Shan Yu and The two talented players in Zile are in a favorable position in the women’s singles. Of course, the Asian Games will also bring a little pressure to the players, and we need to work harder.” Some players from the Hong Kong team will go to Hangzhou for the Asian Games at the end of June. After the double test match, there will be 8 weeks of summer training in the Sports Academy. It is expected to play one or two PSA World Tour matches before the Hangzhou Asian Games.

Photo and text: He Ziyuan

This article was sponsored by “Sportsroad“Originally published on “[Squash Asian Championships]The home audience cheered into motivation Chen Shanyu fought fiercely for five games」