Asian Games: Indian teams in squash finals

Indian men's and women's teams entered the Asian Games squash competition finals, assuring themselves of at least a silver medal which is an improvement on the bronze they had collected four years ago.

After the women carved out a 2-0 win over hosts South Korea, the Indian men showed their verve to down Kuwait with a similar 2-0 margin in the semi-finals, here Friday.

India play Malaysia in the women's final and it could be Hong Kong or Malaysia who will face India in the men's section Saturday.

After the bronze that each team had won at the Guangzhou Asian Games four years ago, the Indians underlined their progress with fine performances.

Joshna Chinappa and Dipika Pallikal were in great touch, winning their respective singles matches in the women's semi-finals while Mahesh Mangaonkar and Saurav Ghosal notched fine victories as the Indian teams made it to the gold medal round.

With a silver and bronze already won in the individual phase by Ghosal and Dipika, respectively, India have already scripted a new chapter in the history of Asian Games squash.

In the women's semi-final, it was Joshna who started the happy tidings against Park Eunok who she beat in just 34 minutes to put India one up against Korea.

Dipika started well, but suffered a mid-match lull to drop a game before she came surging back to beat Song Sunmi. The finish was fluent as the Indian camp cheered the famed duo for the wonderful job done.

World No.21 Joshna thrashed Eunok Park 3-0 (11-6, 13-11, 11-8) in 34 minutes while World No.12 Dipika registered a 3-1 (11-4, 11-5, 8-11, 11-5) victory over Sunmi Song in 37 minutes.

In the other semi-final, Malaysia breezed past Hong Kong 2-0 after Wern Wee Low and World No.1 Nicol David won their respective matches for the defending champions.

Later, it was the men's turn to savour a win. Significantly, the man who gave the inspired start was Mangaonkar, who hardly put a foot wrong in his straight game win over Ammar Altamimi.

Mangaonkar thrashed Ammar 3-0 (11-3, 11-4, 12-10) in just 37 minutes. World No.16 Ghosal was made to work hard by Almezayen Abdullah before prevailing 3-2 (11-8, 7-11, 11-9, 5-11, 11-3) in the second rubber which lasted one hour and two minutes.

For Ghosal who was still smarting over the defeat at the hands of Abdullah Almezayen couple of days ago in the singles final, could not miss this occasion to put the record straight. Ghosal was the hot favourite to win the singles gold but settled for silver as the Kuwaiti registered a surprising victory.

Once again the squash court provided a classic contest with both players giving nothing away. Four games were shared before Ghosal changed gears, rode an early lead, increased it to 6-1 and then never looked back.

The Indian squash contingent is all set for its best-ever performance at Asiad with two medals won and two already assured.

The results (semi-finals):

Women: India beat S.Korea 2-0 (Joshna Chinappa bt Park Eunok 11-6, 13-11, 11-8; Dipika Pallikal bt Song Sunmi 11-4, 11-5, 8-11, 11-5).

Men: India beat Kuwait 2-0 (Mahesh Mangaonkar bt Ammar Altamimi 11-4, 11-3, 12-10; Saurav Ghosal bt Abdullah Almezayen 11-8, 7-11, 11-9, 5-11, 11-3).