Joshna fires Indian women's team to final, men settle for bronze
Jakarta: Joshna Chinappa upstaged eight-time world champion Nicol David as the Indian women's squash team outplayed defending champions Malaysia 2-0 to enter its second successive Asian Games final here on Friday.
The Indian men, who also entered the mega-event as defending champions, settled for bronze after a 0-2 loss to Hong Kong in the semifinals. Saurav Ghosal, who was not fully fit, and Harinder Pal Sandhu, lost to Max Lee and Leo Au, 0-3 and 1-3 respectively.
The loss came after the women's team created the biggest upset in the draw, blanking the David-led Malaysia in the semifinals. The team, comprising Joshna, Dipika Pallikal Karthik and Sunayna Kuruvilla, is now assured of at least a silver.
Joshna, World No. 16, had a point to prove after a crushing loss against familiar foe Annie Au in the final pool match against Hong Kong. India lost the tie 1-2 and finished behind Hong Kong, resulting in a tougher opponent in Malaysia, the most dominant team in the Games' history.
The match against Nicol went down to the wire and was full of long gruelling rallies. Joshna had a match ball on 10-9 in the fourth game but the Malaysian fought back to take the next three points, levelling the opening singles at 2-2.
The crowd support was heavily in favour of Malaysia but not enough to distract the gritty Indian. This time she converted the match ball on 10-9 to complete the biggest win of her Asian Games career.
"I was very upset yesterday (Thursday) as you must have seen. I did not play the way I was supposed to play. Spoke to my parents and coach and that helped. Today, I just wanted to be myself. Nicol is such a champion. She always plays a fair game and today was no different. Really happy to have come through," said Joshna after a 12-10, 11-9, 6-11, 10-12, 11-9 victory. Nicol was gracious in her defeat.
"Joshna played really well. It was a very good match and I could not play my A game," said Nicol after the loss.
World No. 19 Dipika Pallikal Karthik too did not play to her potential against Joey Chan yesterday (Thursday).
