Thaindian News

Chennai, May 1 (IANS) Young Dipika Pallikal came through a tough 65-minute tussle against higher ranked Low Wee Wern of Malaysia en route to the quarter-finals of the women’s singles in the Asian squash championships here Saturday.

Pallikal, winner of her maiden WISPA title in Kolkata last month, won 10-12, 12-10, 11-7, 8-11, 11-8, against the 28th ranked Malaysian, who is seeded in the 3-4 bracket.

Also through to the round of eight in the women’s section was national champion Joshna Chinappa who took just 23 minutes to get past Korea’s Eun Ok Park 11-3, 11-7, 11-9, on a day when matches went as per seedings.

World No.1 Nicol David of Malaysia, bidding for her seventh Asian crown, was in a different league altogether as she strolled through both her matches today to enter the quarter-finals, defeating China’s unseeded Gu Jinyue in 16 minutes and then eliminating Elise Ng (9-16 seed) of Hong Kong in straight games.

In the men’s singles, third seeded Saurav Ghosal, the highest ranked Indian at No. 27 and the national champion, along with Siddharth Suchde (80), Ritwik Bhattacharya (113) and Harinder Pal Singh Sandhu (90) qualified for the pre-quarterfinals.

The other Indian men in the fray, Vikas Jangra, Deepak Mishra, Ramit Tandon, Vrishab Kotian, Naveen Jangra and Kush Kumar, all lost in the first round.

Results:

Men’s singles (2nd round): Mohd Azlan (MAS) bt Ammar Al. Temimi (KUW)11-2 11-6 11-6; Anson Kwong (HKG) bt Gaurav Nandrajog (IND) 10-12 11-4 11-5 11-4; Abdulla Almezayen (KUW) bt Lee Se Hyun (KOR)14-12 11-5 8-11 11-7; Max Lee (HKG) bt Mahesh Mangoankar (IND)11-2 11-8 11-6; Farhan Mehboob (PAK) bt Leo Au (HKG) 11-7 11-5 11-8; Ivan Yuen (MAS) bt Sandeep Jangra (IND)16-14 11-6 12-14 11-4; Waqar Mehboob (PAK) bt Abhishek Pradhan (IND) 12-10 11-4 11-6; Saurav Ghosal (IND) bt Bumpei Kawano (JPN) 11-2 11-5 11-3; Aamir Atlas Khan (PAK)bt Yuta Fukui (JPN)11-5 11-3 11-1; Dick Lau (HKG) bt Salem F. Moahammad (KUW)11-8 8-11 10-12 11-1 11-7; Siddharth Suchde (IND)bt Shinnosuke Tsukue (JPN) 11-3 11-7 11-9; Mohd Nafiizwan (MAS) bt Takanori Shimizu (JPN)11-6 11-8 11-4; Yasir Ali Butt (PAK)bt Ravi Dixit (IND) 11-6 11-6 9-11 11-7; Harinder Pal Singh Sandhu (IND) bt Bader E.Alhosaini (KUW) 8-11, 11-3, 9-11, 11-9, 11-6; Ritwik Bhattacharya (IND) bt Naresh Kumar (IND) 11-7, 11-4, 11-13, 11-6; Ong Beng Hee (MAS) bt Soh Timothy (SING) 11-3, 11-2, 11-8.

Women’s singles (Pre-quarter-finals): Nicol David (MAS) bt Elise Ng (HKG) 11-6, 11-6, 11-5; Rebecca Chiu (HKG) bt Anaka Alankamony (IND) 11-6, 11-8, 11-4; Song Sun Mi (KOR) bt Sharon Wee (MAS) 11-9, 5-11, 12-10, 11-7, 11-9; Dipika Pallikal (IND) bt Low Wee Wern (MAS) 10-12, 12-10, 11-7, 8-11, 11-8; Misaki Kobayashi (JPN) bt Annie Au (HKG) 5-11, 11-8, 11-7, 12-10; Delia Arnold (MAS) bt Chinatsu Matsui (JPN) 11-3, 7-11, 11-5, 10-12, 11-5; Joey Chan (HK) bt Kim Ga Hye (KOR) 11-5, 10-12, 11-0, 11-9;.Joshna Chinappa (IND) bt Eun Ok Park (KOR) 11-3, 11-7, 11-9.