Dipika Pallikal loses in first round at Kuala Lumpur
India's Dipika Pallikal lost in her first round match at the Women's world squash championship in Kuala Lumpur on Tuesday to exit the tournament. In a closely contested match, Dipika fought back from two games down against Annie Au only to lose the decider 11-7 and thus got eliminated.
The 62-minute thriller went in favour of the Hong Kong Player, ranked ten rungs above the Indian at 10 with scores of 11-8, 11-9, 6-11, 6-11,11-7. The last occasion when the two met was in 2014 in the Tournament of Champions, when Annie had it easy in three games, but the latest truly went to the wire in what was the longest match thus far in this edition. Dipika, though, slipped after a gallant fight back.
The focus will now will be on Joshna Chinappa from here. She plays Laura Massaro, the top seed, in the second round on Wednesday.
(Credits- SRFI Media Relations)