KUALA LUMPUR: It has been a long and patient wait but national No 2 Ivan Yuen is excited to be finally able to get back into proper competition.
And it can't come at a better time with the 30-year-old tipped to defend his title at the Ohana National Squash Championships on Oct 6-11.
In fact, the World No 41 will be seeking a record-breaking fourth successive Premier title, a feat that has never been achieved since the tournament's inception in 1973.
Ivan certainly has the odds in his favour as he has also been given the top billing in the Premier division as his closest rival and national No. 1 Ng Eain Yow is not competing.
The 22-year-old Eain Yow is skipping the national meet as he is making preparations to return to his training base in Bristol, England.
Ivan is, however, not taking things for granted as he knows the young lot of players coming up behind will all be eager for his scalp.
"The nationals is definitely a great tournament to have as it is something that everyone looks forward to every year," said Ivan at launch of the national meet at the National Squash Centre, Bukit Jalil on Friday.
"I think the level of competition will be a lot more equal since we've not had any competitions since the Movement Control Order (MCO) in March.
"Although Eain Yow is not playing, the MCO period has really made a big difference as we've all slowed down quite a bit.
"I do know for certain that everyone, me included, will want to win. It's really important for me to take it one game at a time and not rush into it."
Ivan, the top seed, who received a first bye, will open his campaign against Darryl Gan or Aqif Ampandi.
His main challengers will come from second seed Syafiq Kamal and joint third-fourth seeds Addeen Idrakie and Darren Rahul Pragasam.
Meanwhile, in regards to the recent rising wave of Covid-19 cases, Ivan stressed that the best the players could do was take care of their own hygiene.
"It's definitely a cause for concern and everyone is certainly a little worried as cases are going up quite fast these past few days," admitted Ivan.
"But there's not much we can do except take care of our own hygiene and to constantly remind the people around us as well. Hopefully though, this doesn't stop us from having a smooth tournament."
Squash Racquets Association of Malaysia (SRAM) president Gerard Monteiro also added the tournament will go on unless there is a directive from the government.
"We've done everything to ensure the standard operating procedures are in place and it's also going to be an event without spectators," said Gerard.
"The tournament will go on as planned, but if the government decides otherwise then we'll just have to call it off even if it's at the eleventh hour."
The national meet will feature 238 players across several divisions with a total prize money of RM30,000.
The men's and women's Premier division winners will take home RM4,000 each.