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Joshna, Tanvi, Anahat assure India a medal by reaching semis of women's squash team event in Asian Games
India entered the semis of the squash women's team event as the second-ranked team in Pool B thanks to their victories against Pakistan and Macau.
The India women's squash comprising Joshana Chinappa, Tanvi Khanna and Anahat Singh advanced to the semi-final of the team event at the Asian Games 2023 despite suffering a 0-3 loss to Malaysia in their Pool B match on Thursday. This assured the India women's squash team a medal as both losing semi-finalists in squash get a bronze in this Games at Hangzhou.
Malaysia finished on top of Pool B with easy wins against Pakistan, Macau and India. India, on the other hand, entered the semis as the second-ranked team in this Pool thanks to their victories against Pakistan and Macau.
The Indian team had blanked Pakistan 3-0 to get their campaign off to a great start and then they again maintained a clean sheet against Macau before hitting a roadblock against Malaysia.
India began the day with veteran Joshna Chinappa enduring a 6-11, 2-11, 8-11 defeat to Subramaniam Sivasangari in 21 minutes. Chinappa, the most experienced player in the team, was never in the match against the last edition's silver medallist in the individual women's squash event.
In the second match, Tanvi Khanna put up a gallant effort against Commonwealth Games gold medallist Aifa Binti Azman. The Indian took the first game 11-9 but Aifa made a strong comeback. She took the second game 11-1. The see-saw battle took another turn when the top-ranked Indian women's squash player took a 2-1 lead by taking the second game 11-7. The fourth game went right down to the wire but the Malaysian prevailed to make it 2-2.
In the decider, Aifa again showed her class to take the game 11-5 and win the hard-fought contest 3-2.
In the concluding league match, 15-year-old Anahat Singh went down to Malaysia's Rachel Mae Arnold in straight sets (7-11, 7-11, 12-14).
The teenager, playing in her maiden Games, showed promise but it was never going to be enough against a much-experienced opponent.
