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Asian Squash Championships: Mixed fortunes for Indian teams

Kush Kumar went down in his game owing to an ankle injury

Indian squash players had contrasting fortunes at the 18th Asian Squash Team Championships in Chinese Taipei as the men’s team registered a win and a loss while the women’s team suffered a narrow defeat on Wednesday.

It was a tough start to the day for the boys as they went down 1-2 to Japan in the morning before rebounding for a 3-0 win over Macau to qualify for the quarter-finals. On the women’s side, despite the presence of India’s top stars, the team was beaten 1-2 by Malaysia, who were without the former World No. 1 Nicol David.

India vs Malaysia in men’s quarter-finals

The Indian boys’ Pool D match against Japan turned out to be quite disappointing with the 19-year-old Kush Kumar falling prey to an ankle strain. That galvanized his opponent, Ryosei Kobayashi who carved out an 11-6, 13-11, 11-9 victory.

The India No. 1 Harinderpal Sandhu, who is leading the squad in the absence of the injured Saurav Ghosal, slumped to an 11-5, 8-11, 10-12, 7-11 defeat to 18-year-old Ryunosuke Tsukue.

The 18-year-old Velavan Senthilkumar was the only winning member of the Indian men’s contingent as he prevailed 9-11, 11-4, 11-6, 11-6 over Taiki Kaido.

However, they did succeed in putting behind the setback and clinched a comfortable victory over Macau in the evening. While Sandhu thrashed Steven Liu Tsun Man 11-7, 11-4, 11-6, Kush Kumar was an 11-3, 11-1, 11-2 winner over Van Keng Hei.

20-year-old Vijay Kumar completed the whitewash with an 11-6,11-4,11-4 win over Manuel Chan Gassmann de Oliveria.

In the quarter-finals, India will take on the winner of Pool C, Malaysia.

Joshna goes down in a thriller

In the much-awaited India vs Malaysia Pool B encounter, the World No. 13 Joshna Chinappa was edged by old rival – the 15th ranked Delia Arnold, 11-7, 7-11, 9-11, 11-5, 9-11. Dipika Pallikal Karthik managed to put India on the board with a 2-11, 11-3, 11-4, 11-3 victory over 20-year-old Rachel Arnold. But it proved to be a difficult outing for the 17-year-old Akanksha Salunkhe who lost to the 63rd ranked Sivasangari Subramaniam, 11-13, 4-11, 9-11.

On Friday, India will meet Sri Lanka in the last of their Pool B assignments. A win will most likely secure them the second position in the group and set them up for the probable toppers from the other group – Hong Kong – in the semi-finals.

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