Asian Games: Indian eves stun Malaysia in squash, enter final

Jakarta: Joshna Chinappa gave India the perfect start as she stunned Nicol David and Dipika Pallikal followed it up with a clinical win as India upset defending champions Malaysia 2-0 to enter the women's team final of the Asian Games squash competition here on Friday.

Joshna, who squandered a match point in the fourth game, went on to score a 12-10, 11-9, 6-11, 10-12, 11-9 win in a thrilling opening tie.

The 31-year-old Joshna saved a couple of game points to take the opening game in a match of high intensity. She looked in control, but the champion that Nicol is, the 35-year-old clawed her way back into the game and forced a decider. But Joshna held her nerve to score a memorable win over the five-time Asian Games individual gold medallist much to the disappointment of the lively Malaysian crowd.

"I just wanted to come out and play good squash. The result didn’t matter. I thought I had put too much pressure on myself in the previous matches.

"I didn’t think about winning and losing. I wanted to go back to the basics. That helped me relax," said Joshna.

"She's a tough competitor. Even when it was 2-0 I knew she would come back. It was a very close game and I am happy to have come out of the right side of it. I am really happy I could bounce back (after the loss to Hong Kong's AU Wing Chi Annie in the group stage on Thursday)," said Joshna.

Biggest win

The India No. 1 rated it as the team’s biggest win. “For sure it has to be bigger (than the silver in the last Asian Games). (Low) Wee Wern won thee tournaments in a row before coming here. All credit to Dipika for beating her.”

Dipika ran away with the opening game against Wee Wern in the second match and wrapped up an 11-2, 11-9, 11-7 win to trigger cheers in the Indian camp.

"We were disappointed with our loss yesterday. We went back, did our homework. We played good squash and enjoyed ourselves."

"The main theme was for Joshna to go in and set it up for us. I took confidence from her win and I was glad to have won it 2-0 against Wee Wern."

The Indian eves had lost to Malaysia in the gold medal match in the last edition at Incheon.  

They will meet Hong Kong in Saturday's final. Hong Kong beat Japan 2-0 in the second semifinal.

Indian men settle for bronze

Defending champions Indian men failed to reproduce the magic of 2014 as they lost to Hong Kong 0-2 in the semifinals and settled for a bronze medal.

Saurav Ghosal lost to Lee Ho Yin 6-11, 9-11, 11-13 in the opener, while Harinder Pal Sandhu went down fighting to men's singles champion AU Chun Ming 9-11, 11-9, 9-11, 3-11 in the second match.

Harinder, who bounced back to win the second game, was upset by a few umpiring decisions in the third. He went on to lose it 9-11 and Ming easily clinched the fourth game 11-3 to seal a place in the final.

Ghosal had also won a bronze in the men's singles.

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