The Indian men’s squash team lost to Pakistan in their penultimate Pool A match on Wednesday but are firmly in contention to qualify for the semi-finals if they beat Nepal in the final game on Thursday. The top two teams from each pool qualify and despite the defeat at the hands of Pakistan, Saurav Ghosal and company are in sight of a podium finish. In the first match, Zaman Noor beat Abhay Singh 3-1. The score-line read 11-9 10-12 11-8 11-8 in Zaman’s favour. The match lasted 51 minutes and at no point did Abhay looked like being in contention to win the tie.
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However Ghosal, a veteran of many memorable battles in India jersey, brushed aside Asim Muhammad Khan in 30 minutes. Ghosal won 11-3 11-5 11-1 to restore parity.
But Mahesh Mangaonkar, who has been around in national circuit for a long time bungled at crucial moments as Nasir Iqbal of Pakistan prevailed in their 64-minute battle.
Nasir won 11-6 13-11 9-11 11-8 in a hard-fought battle and Mangaonkar was seen completely shattered as Pakistanis celebrated.
Earlier, the Indian men’s team had a couple of good encounters while women also enjoyed a walk in the park.
The women’s team thrashed Nepal, and the men prevailed over Kuwait. Both the teams won by an identical 3-0 margin.
In the first match, 15-year-old Anahat Singh eased past Krishna Thapa 11-7 11-1 11-2, before Joshna Chinappa beat Bipana Bhlon 11-4 11-2 11-2.
Dipika Pallikal then registered a comfortable 11-1 11-3 11-2 over Swasthani Shrestha to wrap up the Pool B contest.
The Indian women’s team had earlier blanked Pakistan 3-0 in its opening pool tie on Tuesday.
Third seeded Indian women are paired in Pool B alongside Malaysia, Macau, China, Pakistan and Nepal.
The Indian men also continued their winning spree, blanking Kuwait in Pool A.
Abhay Singh beat Ali Alramezi 11-7 11-6 11-6 in the first match.
Ghosal, participating in his sixth Asian Games, was trailing by two games to one before his opponent Abdullah Almezayen retired due to an injury to hand India 2-0 lead.
Mangaonkar defeated Falah Mohammad 11-7 11-1 11-2 in the last match to seal the contest.
In the men’s event, top seeds India had outplayed Singapore and Qatar 3-0 in their opening two ties on Tuesday.
The Ghosal-led team had won a bronze medal in the previous edition of the Games at Jakarta.
Having won the gold in 2014, the team is targeting a podium finish here.
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