Begornia rallies to reach squash finals

Reymark Begornia came back from the the pits on Wednesday, rallying past fancied Malaysian Muhammad Amir Amirul bin Azhar, 7-11, 12-10, 11-6, 11-8, 11-6, to reach the men’s singles finals of the fifth Southeast Asian Cup Squash Championships at Kerrys Sports courts inside Shangri-Lla at the Fort Hotel in Taguig City.

Begornia scrambled  out of a  0-2 hole in outlasting Azhar in 61 minutes of riveting play in the singles semifinals to gain a crack at the country’s first gold medal in the six-nation competition organized by the Philippine Squash Academy.

It was a splendid follow-up win for the Pinoy racket-wielder, who ousted top seed and compatriot Robert Begornia in the quarterfinals on Tuesday, and will try to sustain his amazing run.

Begornia will gun for his first ever major title later in the evening against Singaporean 13th seed  Benedict Chan, who subdued Indonesia’s Satria Bagus Laksana, 11-5, 2-11, 11-9, 11-3.

Yvonne Alisa Dalida absorbed a straight-set 6-11, 4-11, 5-11 setback to Malaysian No. 5 seed Noor Ainaa Amani Binti Ampandi in women’s singles semis.  Nevertheless, her finish was worth a bronze for the country’s first medal in the competition serving as a test event for the 30th Philippine Southeast Asian Games.

“I never gave up so I am very happy for this result because I never thought I could get this far,” said Begornia after his thrilling triumph over the 16-year-old Malaysian, who wilted in the face of the hometown bet’s endgame onslaught.

Shrugging off the second-set loss, Begornia played like a man possessed in the succeeding three sets, combining both power and finesse in picking Azhar apart while often pouncing on the Malaysian’s vulnerable backhand.

When the Malaysian threatened at 8-10 in the fourth set, the Filipino refused to yield and reeled of two straight points in slamming the door over his fading foe.