India’s hopes for a medal in squash may have to wait until the next Commonwealth Games after Dipika Pallikal on Saturday pulled out of the women’s and mixed doubles event due to a case of mild fever. The Chennai girl had earlier withdrawn from the singles event as well due to the illness. Pallikal would have partnered Saurav Ghosal in the mixed doubles and Joshna Chinappa in women’s doubles.
Chinappa then played with Ghosal in the mixed doubles and the duo beat Marlene West and Cameron Stafford of Cayman Islands 11-6, 9-11, 11-5.
“After Dipika’s withdrawal, I adopted to the situation pretty well. Saurav has been guiding me all throughout the match. He knows the situation best. I was just there to implement it,” said Chinappa, giving credit to her partner and India’s top men’s squash player.
The duo will now be up against Scotland’s Frania Gillen-Buchert and Alan Clyne on Monday.
India also fared well in the men’s doubles draw, winning two of their three matches. Drawn in pool 6, Harinder Pal Sandhu and Sandeep Jangra defeated Uganda’s Michael Kawooya and Ian Rukunya 8-11, 11-4, 11-3. Later, the duo easily progressed past Bangladesh’s Shopon Pervez and Masud Rana 11-2, 11-3 in 10 minutes. But Sandhu and Jangra will face a tough test on Sunday when they will take on Malaysia’s Azlan Iskandar and Mohammad Nafizwan Adnan.
In the other pool, Gaurav Nandrajog and Siddharth Suchde lost to Scotland’s Lyall Paterson and Chris Small 11-8, 11-8 in 43 minutes. The Indian pair defeated Kenya’s Hartaj Bains and Hardeep Reel 11-6, 11-9 to virtually seal their progress into the next round.
{{/usCountry}}In the other pool, Gaurav Nandrajog and Siddharth Suchde lost to Scotland’s Lyall Paterson and Chris Small 11-8, 11-8 in 43 minutes. The Indian pair defeated Kenya’s Hartaj Bains and Hardeep Reel 11-6, 11-9 to virtually seal their progress into the next round.
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