SIVASANGARI CROWNS AS THE WORLD GAMES' ATHLETE OF THE MONTH

KUALA LUMPUR, May 6 (Bernama) -- National women's squash ace S. Sivasangari has been honoured as the Athlete of the Month for April by The World Games in recognition of her remarkable achievement at the inaugural London Classic where she emerged champion by defeating top-ranked players, last month.

According to The World Games Facebook post tonight, the recognition stemmed from her inspirational journey of overcoming adversity to achieve remarkable success after a challenging incident.

“World Number 13, Sivasangari Subramaniam won the prestigious GillenMarkets London Squash Classic, beating world number one Nour El Sherbini in the quarter-final, world number four Nele Gilis in the semi-final and world number two Hania El Hammamy in the final.

“And all these only two years after she was in a life-threatening car crash, where her head, spine and neck were badly injured and doctors feared she might never walk again. Well, she walks - and she wins,” according to the statement.

As The World Games Athlete of the Month, Sivasangari will receive a diploma and a branded gift.

Last Saturday, PSA World Tour named Sivasangari as the PSA World Tour Players of the Month for April.

In 2022, Sivasangari suffered life-threatening injuries in a traffic accident here which kept her out of the Commonwealth Games and caused mobility issues in her neck.

The national number one now looks back to her best, with her London Classic title, the first Gold-level event won by a Malaysian since the great Datuk Nicol Ann David in 2015.

Last year, Sivasangari also won two gold medals at the 2022 Hangzhou Asian Games in October as well as the PSA World Tour Bronze-level Hong Kong Football Club Open crown in November.

-- BERNAMA