Indian squash players had contrasting fortunes at the 18th Asian Squash Team Championships in Chinese Taipei as the men’s team registered a win and a loss while the women’s team suffered a narrow defeat on Wednesday.
It was a tough start to the day for the boys as they went down 1-2 to Japan in the morning before rebounding for a 3-0 win over Macau to qualify for the quarter-finals. On the women’s side, despite the presence of India’s top stars, the team was beaten 1-2 by Malaysia, who were without the former World No. 1 Nicol David.
India vs Malaysia in men’s quarter-finals
The Indian boys’ Pool D match against Japan turned out to be quite disappointing with the 19-year-old Kush Kumar falling prey to an ankle strain. That galvanized his opponent, Ryosei Kobayashi who carved out an 11-6, 13-11, 11-9 victory.
The India No. 1 Harinderpal Sandhu, who is leading the squad in the absence of the injured Saurav Ghosal, slumped to an 11-5, 8-11, 10-12, 7-11 defeat to 18-year-old Ryunosuke Tsukue.
The 18-year-old Velavan Senthilkumar was the only winning member of the Indian men’s contingent as he prevailed 9-11, 11-4, 11-6, 11-6 over Taiki Kaido.
However, they did succeed in putting behind the setback and clinched a comfortable victory over Macau in the evening. While Sandhu thrashed Steven Liu Tsun Man 11-7, 11-4, 11-6, Kush Kumar was an 11-3, 11-1, 11-2 winner over Van Keng Hei.
20-year-old Vijay Kumar completed the whitewash with an 11-6,11-4,11-4 win over Manuel Chan Gassmann de Oliveria.
In the quarter-finals, India will take on the winner of Pool C, Malaysia.
Joshna goes down in a thriller
In the much-awaited India vs Malaysia Pool B encounter, the World No. 13 Joshna Chinappa was edged by old rival – the 15th ranked Delia Arnold, 11-7, 7-11, 9-11, 11-5, 9-11. Dipika Pallikal Karthik managed to put India on the board with a 2-11, 11-3, 11-4, 11-3 victory over 20-year-old Rachel Arnold. But it proved to be a difficult outing for the 17-year-old Akanksha Salunkhe who lost to the 63rd ranked Sivasangari Subramaniam, 11-13, 4-11, 9-11.
On Friday, India will meet Sri Lanka in the last of their Pool B assignments. A win will most likely secure them the second position in the group and set them up for the probable toppers from the other group – Hong Kong – in the semi-finals.
