HANGZHOU (China): India bagged another gold medal in squash as the pair of Dipika Pallikal and Harinder Pal Singh Sandhu won the final of the mixed doubles on Thursday.
Dipika-Harinder defeated Malaysian pair Aifa Binti Azman-Mohammad Syafiq Bin Mohd Kamal in a close encounter. They won the match in 35 minutes in straight games 11-10, 11-10.
Malaysia had the upper hand in the first game, however, India made a comeback and won by just one point 11-10. In the second game, India had a 9-3 lead, but later allowed Malaysia to tie. However, Sandhu gained two important points to guarantee that they would secure the 20th gold medal.
“Indian Squash Reigns Supreme! Our dynamic mixed doubles team of @DipikaPallikal and @sandhu_harinder clinches GOLD, defeating Malaysia by a score of 2-0 in the final at #AsianGames2022! Join us in celebrating this golden achievement and sending them our heartfelt congratulations!,” Sports Authority of India (SAI) wrote on X (formerly Twitter) handle.
https://twitter.com/Media_SAI/status/1709822279457386614
Earlier, Dipika and Harinder advanced to the finals of the mixed doubles competition on Wednesday. In their mixed doubles semifinal, they beat the Hong Kong duo of Lee Ka Yi and Wong Chi Him by 2-1. The Indian team lost the first set by 7-11.
However, Dipika and Harinder showed some amazing resilience and character, clinching the second game by 11-7 in a one-sided manner. In the third set, Hong Kong had a neck-to-neck competition with India, but the latter emerged victorious by 11-9 to win the match.
Earlier, Saurav Ghosal assured India of another medal from the squash court defeatin Hong Kong’s Chi Hin Henry Leung 3-0 in the semi-final of men’s singles squash competition. Ghosal won the contest 11-2, 11-1, 11-6 to advance to the final and assure India of a medal in men’s singles.
Ghosal also starred in the Indian men’s team gold medal winning show against Arch rivals Pakistan. India beat Pakistan 2-1 in the final to win the gold medal in men’s team squash. (ANI)