Dipika Pallikal settles for bronze in Asiad

Loses to world number one Nicol David in the semifinals

Indian squash player Dipika Pallikal could not better the colour of her assured bronze as she lost to world number one Nicol David in the women's singles semifinals of the 17th Asian Games here today.

The 23-year-old Indian was outplayed 4-11 4-11 5-11 by David, who took merely 25 minutes to storm into the final.

The top-seeded Malaysian came into the match as the overwhelming favourite, having not lost a singles match since the sport was introduced in the 1998 Bangkok Games.

And David was in top form from the word go today as well and hardly gave a chance to Pallikal, who had played a draining semifinal match against compatriot Joshana Chinappa yesterday.

India had won three medals (all bronze) out of four categories at Guangzhou 2010 and this time they look good for medals in all four categories including the team event too.

India has so far won four medals (all bronze) at the Asian Games since 1998. Two of them have come courtesy men's singles player Saurav Ghosal and the rest in men's and women's team event.

17th Asian Games