Rediff.com« Back to articlePrint this article

Squash at CWG: Ghosal, Joshna enter singles quarters

Last updated on: August 01, 2022 00:04 IST

Joshna Chinappa

Photograph: Kind courtesy SAI Media/Twitter

Leading India squash player Saurav Ghosal on Sunday joined Joshna Chinappa in the singles quarterfinals of the Commonwealth Games on Sunday.

The world number 15 from India blanked Canadian David Baillargeon, ranked 62, 3-0 to reach the last eight stage. The final scoreline read 11-6, 11-2, 11-6.

 

Ghosal was hardly troubled in the first two games. In the third, the Canadian led 3-0 before the Indian levelled it to 3-3. After that, he took the decisive lead.

India is eyeing its first squash medal in the Commonwealth Games.

Earlier on Sunday, Joshna outwitted New Zealand's Kaitlyn Watts 3-1 to progress to the women's singles quarterfinals.

The 18-time national champion kept her calm to recover from a mid-game slump to prevail 11-8, 9-11, 11-4, 11-6 against Watts to set up a last-eight clash with Canada's Hollie Naughton.

Naughton beat Malaysia's Aifa Azman 3-0 in another match.

Looking for an elusive CWG gold medal, Chinappa was lagging 3-5 initially in the opening set but made it 8-8 before taking a 1-0 lead.

Watts, however, made a strong comeback in the second set as she zoomed to 5-1 and even though the Indian made it 9-9 at one stage, the Kiwi managed to gather the last two points to keep herself afloat.

Despite the reversal, Chinappa showed better nerves as she build up a 7-3 lead and quickly stepped ahead to make it 2-1.

© Copyright 2024 PTI. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of PTI content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent.