KUALA LUMPUR: National squash player Noor Ainaa Amani Ampandi finally ended her 17-month title drought by emerging victorious at the Ace Challenger Tour 12k 2024, today.
The 22-year-old secured her third career title by defeating Egyptian Hana Ismail 11-9, 11-4, 11-7 after a 35-minute battle in the women’s finals at the Jalan Duta Squash Centre here.
En route to the final, Noor Ainaa, the second seed, ousted third-seeded S. Akanksha of India in the semi-finals, while Hana upset home favourite and top seed Aifa Azman in the other semi-final.
Noor Ainaa, whose last title was her back-to-back success at the Hong Kong Challenge Cup and SRFI Open in India respectively in March and April last year, said today’s victory proved that she is not far behind the country’s top three players.
“My third title and first for this year, very grateful although at the beginning of the year, I struggled in the World Tour against the world’s top 10. I need to adapt to their game style, which is far better than mine.
“I was struggling a bit with ups and downs, besides having to focus on my studies and two sessions of training a day. I also had to change my training programme like how the top players train.
“I was struggling at first with the training style, but everything has paid off slowly. This victory proves I am still here and as good as I was before, maybe better than before,” she told reporters.
Noor Aina, who will be heading to the United States next month to play in a few tournaments, hopes to break into the world’s top 40 by the end of this year from her current 57th rank.
Meanwhile, top seed V. Senthilkumar of India bagged the men’s title, defeating Pakistan’s Noor Zaman 11-5, 11-6, 11-9.
