KUALA LUMPUR: S. Sivasangari is all fired up for the new season after receiving the Datuk Alex Lee Award for Outstanding Women Player from the Asian Squash Federation (ASF).
She was honoured for winning two gold medals - in the women's individual and team event in the Hangzhou Asian Games last year.
World No. 10 Sivasangari ended the season with a bang by helping Malaysia win the Asian Women's Team title with a 2-0 win over Hong Kong in the final in Dalian, China, on Sunday. And the 25-year-old received the Dato Alex Lee Award from World Squash Federation president Zena Wooldridge in Dalian.
Sivasangari and her national teammates, Rachel and the Azman sisters, Aifa and Aira, also won the ASF Women's Team Award for capturing the Asian Games team gold.
The Kedah-born Sivasangari eyes another outstanding performance in the US$280,000 Egyptian Open in Cairo from Aug 30 to Sept 6. The new squash season will run from August this year to June next year.
Squash Racquets Association of Malaysia director Major (rtd) S. Maniam said this is the first time Sivasangari won the Datuk Alex Lee Award.
"The award will further boost and motivate Sivasangari to perform better in tournaments this year," he said.
Earlier this month, Sivasangari also won the Professional Squash Association (PSA) Moment of the Season and the Women's Match of the Season awards.
The Moment of the Season award was for Sivasangari winning the London Classic, where she defeated world No. 3 Hania El Hammamy, world No. 1 Nour El Sherbini and world No. 4 Nele Gilis. Her epic victory over El Hammamy in five games in 81 minutes in the final earned her the Match of the Season award.
Meanwhile Ng Eain Yow, who won the Asian Games individual gold, bagged the Datuk Alex Lee Award in the men's category.
Aira Azman, who won silver medals in the individual and team event in the World Junior Championships (WJC) in Melbourne last year, received the Hassan Musa Award in the Junior Girl Player category.
English coach Andrew Cross received the Coach of the Year Award for helping Malaysia win three gold at the Asian Games and guiding Aira to the individual and the Malaysian team to silver medals in the WJC.
ASF Awards
Datuk Alex Lee Award - Men: Ng Eain Yow (Malaysia)
Datuk Alex Lee Award - Women: S. Sivasangari (Malaysia)
Hassan Musa Award - Boys: Hamza Khan (Pakistan)
Hassan Musa Award - Girls: Aira Azman (Malaysia)
Men's Team Award: India
Women's Team Award: Malaysia
Coach of the Year: Andrew Cross (Malaysia)
Junior Coach of the Year: Farhan Zaman (Pakistan)
Development Coach of the Year: Lawrence Kwan (Malaysia)
Coaches Certificate of Recognition: Yeung Ho Wai (Hong Kong), Bella Gustiansyah (Indonesia), Kenny Foo (Malaysia), Jess Tay (Malaysia), Nafizwan Adnan (Malaysia)