Asian Games | Dipika Pallikal, Saurav Ghosal and Joshna Chinappa guarantee three medals
Saurav Ghosal, Dipika Pallikal, and Joshna Chinappa guaranteed India three more medals to add the overall tally as they reached the semi-finals in their respective events. This will be better than the previous best tally which came in 2014 in the Incheon games which was one silver and one bronze.
India is assured of three medals at the end of day two in squash in the Asian Games with Saurav Ghosal, Joshna Chinappa and Dipika Pallikal Karthik moving into the semi-final of the respective singles events on Friday.Ā
This betters the previous best in the singles phase in the Asian Games of two medals achieved in Incheon, four years ago when Saurav won a silver and Dipika a bronze.
As expected in terms of seeding, top seed Saurav put out his country-mate but a fighting opponent Harinder Pal Sandhu in four games 9-11, 11-7, 11-7, 11-7 in the men's singles quarter-final. A little later came Dipika, the Ā¾ seed, with a fluent win over Japanese Kobayashi Misaki in straight games 11-5, 11-6, 11-8. Joshna's was the last scheduled among the Indians and the Ā¾ seeded player had a fight in hand against Hong Kong's Chan Ho Ling, seeded 5/8. Joshna won 11-5,12-10, 5-11, 12-10 and she is assured of her first medal in the Asian Games in theĀ singles event.
Winning the first game with a touch of class, Sandhu brought memories of the Mumbai Nationals four years ago when he beat Saurav for the title. But the top seed this time was not one to let things drift, as he strongly came back to take the next three games with identical scores. āIt was top quality squash with both players stretched to the limits,ā said national coach Cyrus Poncha, who is with the team.
Dipika Pallikal
