The Hindu : Sport / Squash : Joshna posts win

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Saturday, Feb 16, 2008
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Sport - Squash

Joshna posts win

S.R. Suryanarayan

KUWAIT: Joshna Chinappa caused a flutter at the Asian senior national championship by beating the third seed Sharon Wee of Malaysia, a top 20 player, to book a semifinal berth here on Friday.

The Indian national champion seeded 5/8 had appeared tense to start with but on the court she looked in fine touch. Her backhand worked well and her placements soon had Wee in trouble. The Malaysian looked beaten quite early. But the fighter that she is, Wee came back strongly to draw level.

Looking tired but never losing focus, Joshna controlled the pace and, slowly but surely, had her way. The angle shots and the drops found their marks and then there were those cross-court shots that left the fast moving Wee gasping. Leading 8-0 in the fourth game, Joshna should have finished off in style but Wee saved a match ball and even grabbed five points before service changed over and the Indian carved out what should be one of the most significant wins of her career in the senior ranks.

On Thursday, Joshna had moved into the quarterfinals beating Maria Toor of Pakistan in straight sets. In the men’s section, both Siddarth Suchde and the national champion Saurav Ghosal had good wins to reach the quarterfinals.

Siddarth upset the 5/8 seed Mohd Nafiizwan of Malaysia in five games that went to over one and half hours. Sourav, on the other hand, swept aside Max lee of Hong Kong.

The results: Men: Pre-quarterfinals: Saurav Ghosal (Ind) bt Max Lee (Hkg) 9-3, 9-1, 9-1; Siddharth Suchde (Ind) bt Mohd. Nafiizwan (Mas) 6-9, 9-3, 7-9, 9-5, 9-6.

Women: Quarterfinals: Joshna Chinappa (Ind) bt Sharon Wee (Mas) 9-5, 4-9, 9-7, 9-5. Pre-quarterfinals: Sharon Wee bt Anwesha Reddy (Ind) 9-1, 9-4, 9-6; Joshna Chinappa bt Maria Toor (Pak) 9-1, 9-6, 9-2.

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