KUALA LUMPUR: It was not the perfect Deepavali eve for up-and-coming squash player Yasshmita Jadish Kumar, but helping Malaysia secure silver at the Asian Team Championships was still a proud moment.
Malaysia, fielding a second-string team, lost 2-1 to Hong Kong in their final round-robin tie in Islamabad, Pakistan, today to finish runners-up.
Yee Xin Ying lost the opening match to Toby Tse 5-11, 11-6, 11-5, 11-6 before Hong Kong sealed victory and the title when world No. 26 Chan Sin Yuk defeated world No. 59 Ainaa Amani 11-7, 11-7, 9-11, 11-7.
World No. 54 Yasshmita salvaged a point for Malaysia by upsetting world No. 40 Lee Ka Yi 11-8, 11-9, 7-11, 11-4.
In their first three ties, Malaysia outplayed Iran, Pakistan and South Korea by identical 3-0 margins.
The 22-year-old Yasshmita, who is based in Cairo, said it was her first meeting with Ka Yi and she was delighted to beat the higher-ranked player.
“I am overall happy to win all my four matches in the tournament. We gave a strong challenge to the Hong Kong players, but they had more experience and higher-ranked players,” said Yasshmita.