SINGAPORE: Seeded sixth for the men’s team event at the 2022 Asian Games, Singapore is sending a squad with international experience and a rising star. The team includes six-time SEA Games medallist Samuel Kang, Marcus Phua, Aaron Liang and a major Games debutant Jerome Clement Aw.
Team Singapore are drawn into Pool A alongside top seeds India. The other countries in the group are Pakistan, Kuwait, Qatar, and Nepal. In the previous Asian Games in 2018, Singapore ended their journey in the men’s team Pool B event in third place behind second-placed India and group winner Malaysia, who went on to win the gold medal. While Singapore lost to India and Malaysia in the group stage, they managed to secure wins over Qatar, Indonesia and Thailand. Those wins enabled them to emerge fifth overall in the men’s team event ranking.
“We are optimistic about our chances at the Asian Games. Although we are the underdogs, we hope our resilience and grit can see us through and an upset is always on the card,” said Patrick Thio, President of the Singapore Squash Rackets Association (Singapore Squash).
The last time Singapore brought home an Asian Games medal from the squash competition was back in 1998. Mah Li Lian and Della Lee were both the losing semi-finalists and joint-bronze medal winners that year. Lee lost to Hong Kong’s Rebecca Chiu while Mah went down to eventual winner Nicol Ann David from Malaysia.
At the 2022 Asian Games, Singapore will have in its squad Kang, who is a seven-time national champion and a former captain of the Princeton University squash team, regarded as one of the top teams in the College Squash Association. The 32-year-old, who was part of the Asian Games squad in 2018, first won the SEA Games medal in 2015 when he clinched bronze in the men’s individual category.
In the following SEA Games, Kang brought home three medals; a gold from the men’s team and the men’s jumbo doubles, including a bronze from the men’s individual event. At the 2019 SEA Games in the Philippines, Kang added two more medals to his name as he bagged a silver medal in the mixed team and a bronze from the men’s team category.
Jerome, 20, took third place at the Singapore National Championships earlier this year and fought his way to consecutive third-place finishes at the professional Marigold SGSquash Satellite tournaments in 2022 and 2023. He also competed on the professional squash tour briefly and placed in several events in Australia and New Zealand before he was called up for national service duty.
The men’s team squash event will take place at Hangzhou Olympic Sports Centre, with the preliminary rounds taking place from Sep 26 to 28, and the finals on 30 September.
Team Singapore will also be featured in the men’s team event with Phua and Liang representing the country. The first rounds of the competition will start on Oct 1, with the finals taking place on Oct 5.
Both Phua and Liang are also SEA Games medallists. Phua will be regarded as one of the most experienced members of the team having represented Singapore in team events since 2004. At the 2015 SEA Games, he won the gold medal in the men’s jumbo double and the silver medal in the men’s team category.
According to Singapore Squash, Liang is one of the brightest squash prospects that they have seen in recent years. The 22-year-old is currently studying at Cornell University, where he also plays competitively in the College Squash Association league and trains under former world champion David Palmer. At the 2019 SEA Games, Liang won the silver medal in the mixed team event and the bronze medal in the men’s team category.