India got off to a bright start at the 18th Asian Squash Team Championships as both the men’s as well as the women’s teams registered flawless 3-0 victories in their opening assignments at Chinese Taipei on Wednesday.
The men’s team, who had been placed in Pool D, was up against the Philippines. Despite the absence of the injured Saurav Ghosal, they did not have any problems in dispatching their opponents easily.
The U-19 national champion Velavan Senthilkumar, who replaced the World No. 18 Ghosal, made his debut but his maturity belied his tender age of 18. He was the first one to put India on the board which came courtesy his 3-1 victory.
Former national champion Harinderpal Sandhu made his long-awaited return to competition after suffering a hamstring injury at February’s South Asian Games. In spite of the layoff, Sandhu was in good nick and coasted to a 3-1 win.
The fast-rising Kush Kumar was the last of the Indians to take the court and he raced to a 3-0 win.
Thursday will be a busy day for the Indian boys as they have two matches. In the morning, they will meet Japan while in the evening, they will square off against Macau.
Indian women beat Singapore
The Indian women’s team, led by Joshna Chinappa and Dipika Pallikal, too hardly faced any trouble during their Pool B outing against Singapore.
First up on court was the promising 17-year-old Akanksha Salunkhe. After winning the first two games, she faced a tough resistance from Sneha Sivakumar, who stormed back to take the third game. But Akanksha regrouped in time to grab the fourth game and sealed the 3-1 win.
Joshna and Dipika were on song right from the beginning and both won their matches convincingly without dropping a game.
They will next take on Malaysia in a crucial contest which can decide the Pool B winner.
