World Doubles Squash Championships | Dipika Pallikal wins two titles with Joshna Chinappa and Saurav Ghosal
A file image of Dipika Pallikal.
|(Twitter)
Dipika Pallikal and Saurav Ghosal won the mixed doubles championship at the World Doubles Squash Championships 2022 in Glasgow, whereas Dipika and Joshna Chinappa teamed up to win women's doubles title. Indian squash players had previously only made two final appearances at the World Championships.
In 2016, Dipika and Saurav lost in the mixed doubles final, while Saurav and Ritwik Bhattacharya were runners-up in the men's doubles final in 2014.
Dipika Pallikal and Saurav Ghosal, seeded second, won the mixed doubles title and became India's first-ever World Doubles squash champions by defeating fourth-seeded English duo Adrian Waller and Alison Waters 11-6, 11-8 in the final at the Scotstoun Leisure Centre.
Dipika matched India's and her individual world championship medal tally by winning the women's doubles crown with Joshna Chinappa a few hours later.
Dipika and Chinappa, who were placed third, defeated England's Sarah-Jane Perry and Alison Waters, who were second seeds, 11-9, 4-11, 11-8 in a hard-fought final.
Dipika Pallikal was making her comeback to international squash after three years away from the sport, and the Glasgow competition was a watershed moment for her. Dipika got a mother last year after marrying Indian cricketer Dinesh Karthik.
Meanwhile, Vikram Malhotra and Joshna Chinappa placed tenth in mixed doubles after falling 11-4, 11-6 in the ninth-tenth place playoffs to Malaysians Mohammad Syafiq Kamal and Aifa Azman.
On Saturday, Ramit Tandon and Vikram Malhotra, India's only men's doubles participant, defeated Wales' Elliott Morris and Owain Taylor 11-7, 11-10 in their 17th place playoff.
