India’s top woman player Joshna Chinappa beat former world number one Nicol David 11-8, 11-8, 11-8 in the second round of the El Gouna International squash tournament in El Gouna (Egypt) for her first ever win over the legendary Malaysian.
Nicol David, an eight-time World champ and seeded eight in the tournament, started slowly and fell behind by two games quickly as the Indian attacked well, a press note here said.
The World No.14 then stormed into a 7-1 lead in the third and, despite a late fightback from her Malaysian opponent,held on to claim her first ever win over Nicol David in 32 minutes.
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“I don’t know how I did it,” Joshna was quoted as saying about her win on the PSA World Tour website.
Having won a silver medal in the recent Commonwealth Games in Australia, she said she was aware that she had a tough opening round and a possible match against Nicol David and wanted to play freely.
“I knew I had a tough first round, then Nicol in the pre-quarters, so I had no pressure and I just wanted to play freely and enjoy myself,” she added.
{{/usCountry}}“I knew I had a tough first round, then Nicol in the pre-quarters, so I had no pressure and I just wanted to play freely and enjoy myself,” she added.
{{/usCountry}}Joshna will meet the winner of the match between England’s Laura Massaro or Hong Kong’s Joey Chan in the last eight of the PSA World Series event.
A delighted national coach Cyrus Poncha praised Joshna for pulling off a maiden over Nicol and added it was a great day for Indian squash.
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“Ever since the Commonwealth Games campaign, Joshna has been determined to sharpen her skills in the run-up to the Asian Games. This is a great day for Indian squash,” he added.
Joshna had started her campaign with a 8-11, 11-8, 14-12, 11-4 win over Egypt’s wild card entrant Rowan Reda Araby.
Dipika Pallikal Karthik, the other Indian in the fray, went down to Camille Serme of France 10-12, 7-11, 12-14 in the opening round.