World doubles squash C'ship | Dipika Pallikal and Saurav Ghosal reach the final

World doubles squash C'ship | Dipika Pallikal and Saurav Ghosal reach the final

Press Release

By Press Release, SportsCafe Editor

21
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India's Dipika Pallikal and Saurav Ghosal have moved into the final of the WSF World Doubles Squash Championship. In the gold medal match on Thursday, the Indian pair will face New Zealand's Joelle King and Paul Coll, the same pair whom they had beaten earlier in the league stage.

The exciting turn of events on Wednesday, however, came at the expense of the other Indian pair Joshna Chinappa and Harinder Pal Sandhu. The two had to meet in the criss-cross semifinal and as it happened Dipika and Saurav proved their superiority over three games. Joshna and Harinder had to settle for the bronze medal.

That the two Indian pairs placed in two different Pools would meet in the last four was one possibility at the end of the proceedingsĀ on Tuesday when one more match had remained for both in the league. It became certain after Joshna and Harinder went down fighting to the Australian pair of David Palmer and Donna Urquhart in three games to become Pool A runner-up where Dipika and Saurav kept a clean slate in disposing of the New Zealand pair Joelle King and Paul Coll also over extended games to top Pool B.

Dipika played a star role in her team's semi-final win over Joshna and partner. She controlled and commanded most of the match, according to National coach Cyrus Poncha, who witnessed the exciting fight. A lot of the play was centred around Dipika and Joshna and the former's consistency and aggressive approach paid rich dividends. Yet for all this, it was Joshna and Harinder who shot ahead. Trailing 7-10 in the first game, they were able to reel away four straight points to give the match a dramatic start. But the roles changed there. If it was Saurav who pushed up the side to 4-0 lead in the next then Dipika took over to ensure the good start did no go astray. Some fabulous winners from her at the right times kept Joshna and Harinder on the defensive and even groping. Dipika hit five winners to restore parity in scores and the duo did not look back from there to sign on on a triumphant note.

The day also saw India's famed pair Joshna and Dipika going down in the women's doubles. The top pair did not quite click when needed most to go down to Rachael Grinham and Donna Urquhart in the semi-final. The Indians settled for a bronze. But there were enough good things to happen thereafter to keep the mood in the Indian camp high.

The results:

Women's doubles: semifinal: India 1 lost to Australia 1 (Joshna Chinappa and Dipika Pallikal lost to Rachael Grinham and Donna Urquhart 5-11, 10-11 (Joshna and Dipika win bronze)

Mixed doubles: semi-final: Joshna Chinappa and Harinder Pal Sandhu lost to Dipika Pallikal and Saurav Ghosal 11-10, 7-11, 6-11(Joshna and Harinder win bronze)

(league) Pool A: Australia 2 bt India 2 (David Palmer and Donna Urquhart bt Joshna Chinappa and Harinder Pal Sandhu 7-11, 11-5, 11-8; Pool B : India 1 bt New Zealand 1(Dipika Pallikal and Saurav Ghosal bt Joelle King and Paul Coll 11-10, 8-11, 11-8)

Report Courtesy : Ā© SRFI Media

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