English Malik, siblings dominate Lagos Squash Classics
In the final played on Saturday at the Sir Molade Okoya-Thomas Indoor Hall of the Teslim Balogun Stadium, Lagos, Englishman Curtis Malik defeated Czech Republic’s Martin Svec 3-0 to win the men’s competition of the 2023 Lagos International Squash Classics.
Malik qualified for the championship match against Svec by defeating younger sibling Perry 3-1 in the semi-finals.
When Torrie Malik, Curtis and Perry’s sister defeated Egypt’s Fathy Malik 3-0 to win the women’s title in the competition with an $18,000 prize purse, the Maliks completed a perfect hat trick.
The three siblings were coached in the game by their father Cameron Malik and Curtis; the champion, revealed how tough it was to play his brother, Perry in the semi-final of the tournament.
“It was quite a comfortable tournament for me, I didn’t really have any challenges in the matches, really, it is what it is, I
came here to win and that was what I did.”
“It is good to have my brothers on the side here, having my family here really helped, I couldn’t ask for better support from them, because when you’re away like this, especially quite far away from home, you need the family with you because it helps you focus.”
About the support from the home crowd, the 2022 Czech Open champion said: “It means a lot, it is nice to come to another country, where obviously I’m not from and have people that want you to win and you make friends with, it’s really amazing, it’s amazing.”
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Her brother, Curtis, the winner of the male category of the tournament, and a member of the victorious England squad at this year’s European Professional Squash Championship, also had good words to say about the fans.
“It is great to have all these people here watching and coming down here to watch the game of squash. I think there are more
people here than there were in the world championships, where I was at last week.
“So, that is really good to see and it is nice to have them cheer and support their own players, I’ve never seen anything like it.”