Dipika-Joshna's CWG gold medal might be just what Indian squash needs

Dipika Pallikal (L) and Joshna Chinappa

Dipika Pallikal and Joshna Chinappa combined beautifully to hand India its first ever Commonwealth Games gold medal when they outclassed English duo Jenny Duncalf and Laura Massaro of England 11-6, 11-8 in less than 30 minutes at the Scotstoun Sports Campus in Glasgow.

The two players, better known for their singles exploits – Dipika is the first Indian woman to break into the singles top 10 – had a memorable unbeaten journey into the finals where they finished on top of the group which also had heavyweights Malaysia and New Zealand.

A memorable journey that beat all expectations

Let alone winning gold, not many gave the Indian pair a chance to even finish inside the podium considering the skills of the players from countries like Australia and England. But the players took it one match at a time and steadily went on with their work, creating history in the process.

The Indian pair thrashed Sri Lanka in their opening game in straight sets before defeating the World number 1 duo of Nicol David and Low Wee 11-8, 11-5. This win also proved that the win against the same opponents a month ago in the Tri Nation Series in Malaysia was no fluke, and that they have the ability to defeat the top players on a consistent basis.

Dipika-Joshna defeated New Zealand in straight sets and came out triumphant in a close game in the semi finals, defeating Australia's Brown and Grinham 11-9,7-11,11-4 to become the first squash pair from India to reach the final stage.

The glorious final triumph to cap it all off

In the final, Duncalf and Massaro faltered in the first set going down 11-6, before racing to a 7-2 lead in the second set. However, they seemed to lose the plot thereafter and a series of predictable shots combined with the Indians’ grit saw them win the silver medal as the Dipika and Joshna clinched gold. The English pair had won silver in the 2010 Delhi Games as well.

"We were determined to win the gold. We have been practising for six months and even though we are singles players we adjusted brilliantly to each other’s mindsets and we had a lot of confidence going into the event," said Dipika, who struck gold at her very first CWG appearance, as she missed out in Delhi due to fever.

Joshna did not want the match to go into a third set and said, "I don't think we started off very strongly in the second set, but we knew this was our moment and we switched back on."

Here are the higlights of the match (squash footage starts from the 2:25 mark)

The victory could bring in more sponsors and assistance for squash in India

The Indian squash contingent, playing without the assistance of head coach Cyrus Poncha who was surprisingly left out of the team to Glasgow, had a mixed outing at the Games with Sourav Ghosal losing a tough match in the bronze medal game. The men's doubles team lost in the pre-quarters and the women too did not inspire much in their individual events.

However, the players are hopeful that the doubles gold medal will do the sport in the country a world of good and that it will help them rise above the shadow of the cricketers, tennis players and badminton superstars. With squash fighting a battle with netball to be included in the 2020 Olympics, the duo think that this triumph will give the game a much needed boost in India.

Dipika is confident that this victory will give the game a much needed facelift and inspire the government to invest in the sport so that the infrastructure could develop and more youngsters take up the sport. She said, "Squash is a fringe game with not many sponsors. I am looking forward to sponsors after this win as without them it is difficult to cover our expenses."

The 27-year-old Chinappa also looks forward to increased popularity of the sport and says, “This medal is historic and it hasn’t sunk in yet. Hopefully ths medal isn’t allowed to just fade away and inspires youngsters to take up the racquet albeit a squash one.”