KUALA LUMPUR: World No. 17 Ng Eain Yow exited the Egyptian Open after losing to New Zealand's Paul Coll in the men's third round on Monday.
Asian Games champion Eain Yow fell 11-6, 11-4, 11-3 to world No. 2 Coll.
S Sivasangari, who also retained her Asian Games title, advanced into the quarter-finals by overcoming world No. 12 Nele Gilis of Belgium 11-5, 11-6, 11-8 in the third round.
The Malaysian, ranked fifth in the world, will face world No. 6 Fayrouz Aboelkheir of Egypt for a place in the semi-finals.
Meanwhile, training in Cairo is working wonders for J Yassmhita.
The Negri Sembilan player sacrificed her studies to train full time in Cairo and improved her world ranking by nine rungs to 53rd.
Yasshmita, who has trained under coaches Andrew Shoukry and Ahmed Faragallah since last October, qualified for the main draw of the Diamond-level tournament.
She stunned world No. 34 Mariam Metwally of Egypt 11-9, 12-10, 11-7 in the first round and she came back from the brink of defeat to beat another Egyptian, the world No. 20 Farida Mohamed 3-11, 9-11, 11-8, 11-9, 11-9, to reach the third round.
In the third round, Yasshmita lost to world No. 7 Satomi Watanabe of Japan 11-3, 11-2, 11-6 on Monday.
Yasshmita said: "I knew it would not happen overnight. The objective was to improve every part of my game and trust the process.
"The first few months were all about learning, adapting and trusting the programme.
"My biggest challenge was adapting to a completely new environment. Every player in Egypt is highly competitive and every training session pushed me out of my comfort zone.
"Every day was a challenge. The coaches pushed me extremely hard to think differently and compete differently.
"There were difficult moments, but Andrew and Ahmad kept reminding me that development takes time. Looking back now, those challenges helped build the foundation for where I am today."
Yasshmita said she began to realise she could compete with players like world No. 12 Salma Hany, who encouraged and pushed her forward.
"Adapting to a new environment in Egypt was not easy, and her support, advice and encouragement helped me tremendously during the transition.
"I am truly grateful for everything she has done for me. The ranking is encouraging, but I believe there is still a lot more room to grow.
"I am grateful to everyone who has believed in me throughout this journey. Their support allowed me to pursue this journey and continue chasing my dreams," said Yasshmita, who will represent Malaysia in the Asian Team Championships in Islamabad, Pakistan from Nov 3-7.
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