The top two Indian women’s squash stars Joshna Chinappa and Dipika Pallikal made a winning start at the $25,000 MEML HKFC International 2016 as both of them booked their places in the quarter-finals of this Hong Kong tournament on Wednesday. But it was the end of the road for Mahesh Mangaonkar, who fell to the third seed Nafiizwan Adnan.
The last time that Joshna Chinappa and the 19-year-old Egyptian Salma Hany Ibrahim met, it was a gruelling five-game match in the quarter-finals of the Carol Weymuller Open which the 29-year-old narrowly won. The Indian national champion did not allow such a repeat this time as she grabbed the first two games 11-8 and 11-7.
Despite a minor hiccup in the third game, Joshna managed to regroup quickly to seal the 11-8, 11-7, 6-11, 11-8 win in 37 minutes.
In the quarter-finals, the third-seeded Indian will face the seventh seed Rachael Grinham of Australia, who edged past Tesni Evans in a close five-game opening round match.
Top seed up next for Dipika
For the World No. 19 and sixth seed Dipika Pallikal, it was a far easier outing. Dipika’s opponent, Low Wee Wern of Malaysia had formerly been ranked fifth but a surgery on her left knee had forced her out of the season for seven months last year and she is now on the comeback trail.
She was a qualifier at this tournament and could not put much resistance to the pace and precision of Pallikal’s shots. Dipika emerged an 11-1, 11-3, 11-3 winner in 23 minutes.
She will next take on the top seed Joelle King who needed four games to beat local hope Joey Chan.
Mangaonkar crashes out
Luck ran out for the 22-year-old Mahesh Mangaonkar in spite of putting up a big fight in the last two games. Nafiizwan Adnan, who is ranked 25 places above than the 58th Mangaonkar, took 38 minutes to prevail over the Indian, 11-2, 14-12, 11-7.
