India women's squash team trounces Pakistan Women in Pool B encounter at Asian Games 2023
India’s women squash team hardly broke a sweat on their way to demolishing arch rivals Pakistan 3-0 in their first encounter of the Asian Games 2023 on Tuesday.
The team consisting of Indian prodigy Anahat Singh, veteran Joshna Chinappa and Tanvi Khanna all secured wins in their respective matches, helping India win the Pool B tie comfortably.
Anahat, 15, played the first singles in the tie against Pakistan’s Sadia Gul. The Asian Games debutant took a mere 18 minutes to see off her Pakistani opponent with a convincing scoreline of 11-6, 11-6, 11-3.
Playing her sixth Asian Games, Joshna Chinappa showed her experience while easing past Sadiq Ul Noor Huda 11-2, 11-5, 11-7 in a match that lasted 16 minutes.
Asian Games silver medallist Tanvi Khanna helped India seal the tie, beating Noor Ul Ain Ijaz. The 27-year-old didn’t even give Noor a chance to fight for the win, registering a 11-3, 11-6, 11-2 scoreline.
India will now face Nepal and Macao in their next two group matches on September 27.
The Indian women’s team won the silver in this event last time around and there are high expectations on the stalwarts to convert the 2018 Asian Games silver into a gold this time.
Indian men’s team secures a win too
In the men's team event, India's top-seeded team demonstrated their authority by defeating Singapore with a convincing 3-0 scoreline. Harinder Pal Sandhu kicked off the tie with a hard-fought victory in the opening singles match against Jerome Clement. The Indian was stretched to four games, but ultimately triumphed with a score of 11-4, 13-11, 8-11, 11-7.
Saurav Ghosal, India's highest ranked player, faced a formidable challenge in the initial game against Samuel Kang but went on to comfortably win with a score of 11-9, 11-1, 11-4. Abhay Singh sealed India's comfortable victory with an impressive 11-7, 11-7, 11-7 triumph over Marcus Phua.
With their eyes set on the gold medal following a bronze in the previous edition, the Indian men's team, led by Ghosal, is determined to continue their strong performance in their next Pool A encounter against Qatar later on Tuesday.