Dipika enters semi-finals of Asian Squash

May 2nd, 2010 - 11:27 pm ICT by IANS  

Chennai, May 2 (IANS) Indian challenge in the Asian squash championship all but dissipated with Dipika Pallikal being the lone home player remaining in the draw as the 19-year-old local girl entered the semi-finals of the women’s singles here Sunday and set up a meeting with World No.1 Nicol David of Malaysia.

Pallikal, ranked 38th, brought some cheer to the Indian camp as she beat Japan’s Misakhi Kobayashi (No.62) 12-10, 11-8, 11-6, while national champion Joshna Chinappa went down to Hong Kong’s Rebecca Chiu in four games. In the men’s section, India No.1 Saurav Ghosal and Harinder Pal Singh Sandhu made their exit.

Joshna did well to take a game off the 18th ranked second seed Rebecca Chiu from Hong Kong who otherwise held the upper hand to win in four games and set up a semi-final clash with compatriot Joey Chan.

Top seeded Nicol David scored a facile win over Korea’s Song Sun Mui en route to the semi-finals and looked in good nick.

National men’s champion Ghosal lost to Pakistan’s Farhan Mehboob in three games in the quarter-finals and Sandhu crashed against another Pakistani, Yasir Ali Butt in the pre-quarter-finals.

In fact, in the men’s singles, Pakistan picked up three of the four semi-final spots as Butt surprised second seed Ong Beng Hee of Malaysia in four games to set up a clash with compatriot Amir Atlas Khan while in the other semi-finals, Azlan Iskandar of Malaysia faces Mehboob.

The results:

Men’s singles (Quarter-finals): Azlan Iskandar (MAS) bt Abdulla Almezayen (KUW) 13-11, 11-7, 12-10; Farhan Mehboob (PAK) bt Saurav Ghosal (IND) 11-7, 11-1, 11-6; Amir Atlas Khan (PAK) bt Nafizwan Adnan (MAS) 12-10, 11-8, 11-5; Yasir Ali Butt (PAK) bt Ong Beng Hee (MAS) 10-12, 11-8, 11-8, 11-9. Semi-final line-up: Iskandar vs Mehboob; Khan vs Butt.

Pre-quarter-finals: Ong Beng Hee (MAS) bt Ritwik Bhattacharya (IND) 11-7, 11-8, 11-6; Yasir Ali Butt (PAK) bt Harinder Pal Singh Sandhu (IND) 8-11, 11-7, 11-6, 11-7; Nafizwan Adnan (MAS) bt Siddharth Suchde (IND) 11-13, 11-13, 13-11, 11-8, 11-8; Farhan Mehboob (PAK) bt Ivan Yuen (MAS) 9-11, 11-6, 11-8, 11-8; Abdulla Almezayen (KUW) bt Max Lee (HKG) 11-7, 11-6, 11-4; Amir Atlas Khan (PAK) bt Dick Lau (HKG) 11-5, 11-6, 12-10; Saurav Ghosal (IND) bt Waqar Mehboob (PAK) 11-9, 11-5, 11-5; Azlan Iskandar (MAS) bt Anson Kwong (HKG) 11-2, 11-4, 11-2.

Women’s singles (Quarter-finals): Nicol David (MAS) bt Song Sun Mui (KOR) 11-4, 11-7, 11-7; Dipika Pallikal (IND) bt Misaki Kobayashi (JPN) 12-10, 11-8, 11-6; Rebecca Chiu (HKG) bt Joshna Chinappa (IND) 11-5, 11-13, 11-7, 11-6; Joey Chan (HKG) bt Delia Arnold (MAS) 11-4, 11-4, 11-6. Semi-final line-up: David vs Pallikal; Chiu vs Chan.

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