STARMETRO MONDAY 23 MAY 2016

sport 15

1 Winners of thedivisionsat theopening leg of theIPT1Malaysiasquash circuit2016.

2 MohdAmir(left)and MinHong inaction during theMens Division1final.

UPM duo in fine formYoungsters emerge champs inopening leg of squash circuitMOHD Amir Farhan Ampandi andMithila Tarriilarasan made theiruniversity - Universiti PutraMalaysia (UPM) - proud whenthey bagged the Men's andWomen's Division 1 title in con-trasting style in the opening leg ofthe IPT IMalaysia squash circuit2016 at the Pedis Squash Complexin Kangar recently.

While 21-year-old Mohd Amir'swin was expected as he was thetop seed and a regular in the cir-cuit last year, it was Mithila whostole the limelight with her stun-ning display of confidence. The19-year-old lass from Petaling [ayamade her debut and was seededNo 10.

Mohd Amir demolished FangMin Hong from Universiti MalayaCUM)11-1, 11-3, 11-2 whileUniversiti Sains Malaysia'sMuhammad AlaminKamazahruman edged RubanSankaran from UM 11-6,9-11,5-11,11-2,11-7 to finish third.Mithila, a first year student pur-

suing Consumer Studies at UPM,humbled second seed Jamie KwaofUM 11-7, 11-5, 11-6 to keep aclean slate in the tourney. GillianNg CUM)settled for third spotafter beating Julia Cheah Kin Yeefrom Universiti Utara Malaysia11-9, 11-8, 11-4."I trained hard for the tourna-

ment both at UPM (with my team-mates) and at Astaka courts in PJon weekends under coachesCalvin Chang and Muzaffar

Hussein. I am glad it paid off. Thewin will definitely boost my confi-dence for the remaining circuit,"said Mithila, who started playingsquash at the age of six with herelder brother Devamuthan duringtheir school days at SJKCT)Vivekananda in Petaing [aya.

Mohd Amir, a second yearPhysical Education degree stu-dent, could not have asked for abetter start.

"I train whenever I have thetime at the Jalan Duta courts. Sothe result is definitely satisfying,"said Mohd Amir, who emergedwinner in the third leg at Bukit[alil in October and finished sec-ond in the Grand Finals atUniversiti Malaya in Decemberlast year.

Devamuthan, meanwhile,bagged the Men's Division 2 titlewith a hard fought 11-9, 15-13,11-9 win over his UM teammateRaja Mohd Abas Raja Razaman.

The winners received their priz-es from Squash RacquetsAssociation of Malaysia CSRAM)vice-president and competitionchairman Nik Razeen Daud andUM youth and sports officer MohdFaris Mahmood.

A total of 145 participants from15 universities took part in thethree-day event.

RESULTS (all Finals):MEN DIY 1 Final: Mohd AmirFarhan Ampandi CUPM)bt FangMin Hang CUM)11-1, 11-3, 11-2;

There was good support from the crowd who filledup the PerlisSquash Complex.

3rd: Muhammad AlaminKamazahruman CUSM)bt RubanSankaran CUM)11-6, 9-11, 5-11,11-2,11-7.

(IUKL) 11-1, 11-4, 11-7; 3rd: LimKok Ping CUM)bt Desmond LeeKok How (IUKL) 11-4, 11-7,11-8.

WOMEN:DIY 1Final: T. Mithila (UPM) btJamie Kwa (UM) 11-7, 11-5, 11-6;3rd: Gillian Ng (UM) bt JuliaCheah Kin Yee (UUM) 11-9, 11-8,11-4.DIY 2 Final: T. Devamuthan CUM)

bt Raja Mohd Abas Raja RazamanCUM)11-9, 15-13, 11-9; 3rd:Muhammad Fahmi Hakim CUiTM)bt Mohd Firdaus Mustafa KamalCUM)11-9, 11-13, 11-5, 13-11.DIY 3 Final: Muhammad ZakwanRoslan (UNIMAP) bt Teh Chi Ming

DIY 4 Final: Mohd Azri PawanTeh (UUM)bt Sheikh MuhsinMohamed Dharik (UITM) 11-7,11-0, 11-0; 3rd: Ahmad ShahrilRamadhan Ahamd Hambali(UNIMAP) bt Muhammad IzwanHazree Jamaluddin (UNlMAP)11-8,11-6,11-8.

DIY 2 Final: Dinitha Kumar (UPM)bt Syazana Syazana SyahirahSalleh (UPS!) 4-11, 11-6, 11-4, 11-3;3rd: Yvonne Simpanan (upSI) btGrace Lim Wei Min (TARUC)11-9,11-6,11-5. .