Chinappa, Dipika advance into quarters of Asian Squash C`ship

Chennai: Indian top stars Joshna Chinappa and Dipika Pallikal have joined World Number one and title favourite Nicol David in the quarterfinals of the women`s section in the 15th Asian Squash championships here today. In the men`s section, India`s highest ranked and lone seeded player (third), Saurav Ghosal (PSA 27), Siddharth Suchde (80), veteran Ritwik Bhattacharya (113) and Harinder Pal Singh Sandhu (90) have made it to the pre-quarterfinals. Sandhu was slightly off colour today and did not have a start to the championship to his liking as he was stretched in the very first game which he won on extra points and the same tempo continued in the evening too against a lower rung Kuwaiti E Alhosaini Bader, who played to his scheme of keeping the ball in play. However, Sandhu wriggled out of tough situations in the decider before winning it at 8-11 11-3 9-11 11-9 11-6. Lone seeded Indian in the women section, Chinappa got past Korean Eun Ok Park 11-3 11-7 11-9 in 23 minutes, while Pallikal, who has been in good nick since winning the WISPA Indian Challenger in Kolkata last month, proved her mettle surviving a five game tussle in a marathon 65 minutes against Low Wee Wern of Malaysia. It was a question of the fittest as the match meandered to the decider. Here, Pallikal, who scored many eye-catching winners in the match, brought in her best after being level 8-all before eventually winning the match at 10-12 12-10 11-7 8-11 11-8. Eighth seeded Chinappa is slated to play more experienced second seeded Rebecca Chiu of Hong Kong tomorrow, while Dipika has better chances of making the semifinals. World number one junior player, Dipika, who has improved upon her WISPA ranking by five slots to 38 as on today`s ranking list, will take on 68th ranked Misaki Kobayashi of Japan. Semifinal progress for Dipika would put her against top seeded David. In the pre-quarterfinal matches tomorrow, Ghosal will take on Pakistan`s Waqar Mehboob, while Suchde fights Mohd Nafizwan of Malaysia. Bhattacharya is expected to have a tough time against second seeded Ong Beng Hee in the last eight stages. Sandhu, who survived anxious moments before managing to progress after a hard fought 3-2 in 65 minutes, now plays Pakistan`s Yasir Ali Butt, who is ranked 5-8. World Number One David, considered favourite to claim her seventh individual title in succession was seen to be in her elements in terms of fitness. David is one player, who is way ahead of others in the women section in the world and winning the title at this Asian level should be a kinder garden stuff for her. After winning her first match in 16 minutes against China`s unseeded Gu Jinyue, David made the quarterfinals disposing off Elise Ng (9-16 seed) of Hong Kong at 11-6 11-6 11-5. However, the men`s section threw out lot of possibilities as few top rung stars had to bring in their best midway their matches as the rivals were showing signs of getting the upper hand. As for the hosts players, India fielded 15 in men and eight in women and it was a mixed luck for them as nine of the them including Ghosal, and Suchede won their respective men`s first round matches without much difficulty, excepting Harinder Pal Singh Sandhu managed to take the first game in a fast paced tie on extra points before making the next grade. Vikas Jangra, Deepak Mishra, Ramit Tandon, Vrishab Kotian, Naveen Jangra and Kush Kumar failed to cross the first hurdle. PTI