Asian Games 2023: Indian squash teams start campaign with wins over Pakistan, Singapore
Anmol Kakkar
Both teams won in straight sets quite comprehensively.
The Indian women’s and men’s squash teams started their campaign in team events with straight set wins in their respective matches at the Asian Games 2023. While the women’s team defeated arch-rivals Pakistan, the men’s team returned a 3-0 win over Singapore.
The women’s squash team started their Asian Games 2023 campaign on a winning note by defeating Pakistan (3-0) in the opening match of the group stage. The team comprised of seasoned campaigners Joshna Chinappa, Dipika Pallikal, Tanvi Khanna and young sensation Anahat Singh. India are seeded 3rd and are placed in pool B alongside Malaysia, Pakistan, Macau and Nepal.
Anahat Singh, 15, from Delhi started the proceedings for India as she defeated Sadia Gul of Pakistan 3-0 (11-6, 11-6, 11-3). The recently crowned Asian Junior U-17 champion left her mark as she won the match convincingly against Sadia and gave India an early lead. Veteran and 38-year-old Joshna Chinappa too did not have much fight and defeated Sadiq Noor Ul Huda in straight sets 3-0 (11-2, 11-5, 11-7).
In the last match of the tie, nation’s top ranked women’s singles player Tanvi Khanna got the better of Ijaz Noor Ul Ain 3-0 (11-3, 11-6, 11-2) and handed India a comfortable win. The Indian team will next face Nepal tomorrow (September 26th) followed by Macau and Malaysia on 28th September. It will be interesting to see how they perform against Malaysia which will be a tricky challenge. In the previous edition, Indian women’s team won the silver medal after losing to Hong Kong in the finals.
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On the other hand, the men’s team comprising Saurav Ghoshal, Abhay Singh, Mahesh Mangaonkar and Harinder Pal Singh Sandhu defeated the Singapore team (3-0) and also started their campaign on a winning note.
They will next face Pakistan in the 2nd group stage tomorrow. In today’s encounter, Harinder Pal Singh Sandhu defeated Jerome Clement (3-1), Saurav Goshal defeated Samuel Shan Mu (3-0) and Abhay Singh defeated Marcus Jia (3-0) to record an easy victory.
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