Asiad squash: India make winning starts in team events

Jakarta, Aug 27 (PTI) India began its campaign on a winning note with both men and women recording 3-0 victories in the group stage of the squash team events at the ongoing Asian Games here today.

The men beat Indonesia 3-0 in the morning before overwhelming Singapore by the same margin. The women, who had only one match, beat Iran 3-0.

The only familiar player missing for India was Saurav Ghosal but his absence did not put any extra stress on compatriots Harinder Pal Sandhu, Ramit Tandon and Mahesh Mangaonkar as all of them won their matches without conceding a game.

In the women's section, both Joshna Chinappa and Dipika Pallikal were on view with Tanvi Khanna taking the third spot.

In the men's team, India is seeded second and has Malaysia, Qatar, Singapore, Indonesia and Thailand in its group.

In the women's section, third seed India is clubbed alongside Hong Kong, China, Iran, Indonesia, Thailand. Top two teams qualify for semifinals from each group.

Results:

Men: India bt Indonesia 3-0 (Harinder Pal Sandhu bt Tastaftyan Muhammad Nur 11-9, 11-6, 11-7; Ramit Tandon bt Laksana Satria Bagus 11-4, 11-2,11-5; Mahesh Mangaonkar bt Hasanudin Andi 11-6, 11-2, 11-5); bt Singapore 3-0 ( Harinder Pal Sandhu bt Leong Yew Sing Timothy 11-7, 11-4, 11-7;Ramit Tandon bt Kang Samuel Shan Mu 11-1., 11-3, 11-6; Mahesh Mangaonkar bt Pang Ka Hoe 11-3, 11-3, 11-1)

Women: India bt Iran 3-0 (Joshna Chinappa bt Sharafpour Ghazai11-7, 11-5, 11-6; Tanvi Khanna bt Farzad Hadis 12-10, 11-7, 11-2; Dipika Pallikal Karthik Eghtedari Fereshteh 11-2, 11-6, 11-4)