KUALA LUMPUR: It's double joy for Sanjay Jeeva. He not only won the Sea Cup Squash Championships today, but has been offered a place at the University of Birmingham.
The top seed Malaysian defeated his compatriot and second seed, Ong Sai Hung, 11-4, 11-5, 6-11 11-6 in the men's final in 39 minutes at the Rizal Memorial Sports Complex in Manila.
World No. 74 Sanjay, said: "The Sea Cup offers ranking points and by winning the individual title, I will break into the world's top 70 by next week.
"At the same time, I'm also happy to be offered a one-year Masters course (either High Performance Sport or Sport and Exercise Science) at the University of Birmingham.
"The university is ranked number one for squash, top 10 best universities in the United Kingdom and top 100 in the world.
"Although I'll will be busy with studies, I'll also compete in PSA tournaments in Europe. My aim is to break into the world's top 50 by the end of this year," said the national No. 3 who will also compete in the Sea Cup mixed team event which begins tomorrow.
In the women's event, Malaysia's Ainaa Amani lived up to her top billing by beating compatriot and second seed Chan Yiwen 11-2, 11-2, 8-11, 11-6 in the final.
Ainaa, who also won the individual title in 2019, said she played really good squash overall.
"It's always tough to play against a teammate, but I know I got the chance to win it if I stick to my game plan."