KUALA LUMPUR: Sports observer Sadek Mustaffa believes the sporting authorities need to continue focusing on developing young talent in squash if Malaysia is to mount a serious challenge for gold at the 2028 Los Angeles (LA2028) Olympics.
Though pleased to see breakthrough performances from S. Sivasangari and Ng Eain Yow at the world level recently, Sadek said the duo will likely be nearing the twilight of their careers in 2028.
Sivsangari, 25, drew widespread praise after scalping world No.1 Nour El Sherbini (Egypt), world No. 4 Nele Gilis (Belgium) and world No. 2 Hania El Hammamy (Egypt) en route to winning the inaugural London Classic last week.
Eain Yow, 26, won the inaugural German Open on Sunday, it was his seventh PSA Tour title since 2014.
"Both of them have sacrificed a lot to achieve what they have and it was great to see them winning," said Sadek yesterday.
"Both have improved a lot. Sivasangari has learnt how to manage her mental game well which she showed against the top-two ranked Egyptian players.
"It is a good start for them ahead of the next Olympic cycle, however, there will be a lot of challenges along the way. There is still a long time to go before LA 2028.
"They will definitely be marked by the top players after this.
"In another four years, they will also be about 30 which is roughly the same age that Datuk Nicol David started to show a decline in her performances.
"We definitely need to keep finding new talent ahead of LA2028 and the good thing is that we already have promising young players with potential who can be further groomed.
"We have to remember that other countries such as Egypt, France, Great Britain, Netherlands and Australia also have young talent coming up."
The Universiti Teknologi Mara (UiTM) Sports and Recreation Faculty senior lecturer added that identifying and grooming talent is neither easy nor cheap.
"Sivasangari and Eain Yow have shown vast improvement since being based in the United States and the United Kingdom where they can focus on training and competing rather than festivals here," said Sadek.
"To excel at the highest level in sports is very expensive now, we have to invest and only then will we see results.
"Finding the talent and building a good talent pool is never easy but we have to do this otherwise we will be left behind."
Sivsangari has been studying and competing for Cornell University in recent years while Eain Yow has been based in Bristol where he trains alongside other world-class players.
