Sivasangari wins Malaysia's sixth gold, secures LA2028 Olympic berth

NAGOYA: National squash player S. Sivasangari retained her women's singles title at the Aichi-Nagoya 2026 Asian Games by beating India's Anahat Singh, delivering Malaysia's sixth gold medal and securing a place at the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic Games (LA2028).

According to Olympics.com, the world No. 5 won 11-4, 11-4, 11-7 in 23 minutes, becoming one of the first players to earn a squash qualification quota for LA2028.

The win also allowed Sivasangari to defend the title she won at the Hangzhou 2022 Asian Games.

The gold brought Malaysia to its target of six gold medals for the Games, as reported by Bernama before the competition began.

Without dropping a game

Sivasangari, 27, controlled the final from the opening game, restricting the 18-year-old Anahat to four points in each of the first two games before closing out the third 11-7.

Al Jazeera reported that Sivasangari completed her singles campaign without dropping a single game. She beat Sri Lanka's Chanithma Sinaly, followed by Hong Kong's Ho Tze Lok and Chan Sin Yuk on her way to the final.

Fifth gold for Eain Yow

Her win followed Ng Eain Yow's victory in the men's singles final, in which he beat India's Abhay Singh 11-9, 11-5, 11-5 to deliver the country's fifth gold.

Both players also secured places at LA2028 through the Asian Games qualification route, under which gold medallists qualify automatically. Squash will make its Olympic debut in Los Angeles in 2028.

With today's results, both of Malaysia's defending champions not only retained their Asian titles but are also among the first players to qualify for the Olympic squash competition.