India enters pre-quarters of world team squash

August 24, 2011 04:16 pm | Updated 04:16 pm IST - Paderborn (Germany)

India overcame a fighting South Africa 3—0 to top Group F and qualify for the pre—quarterfinals of the men’s world team squash championship here Tuesday.

The buoyant Indians will next play Denmark, who earlier in the day pulled off the biggest upset in the championship by defeating Pakistan 2—1 in the final qualifying round. The result pushed one of the world’s most successful squash nations out of the World Top 16 for the first time in their history.

In the first singles, Siddharth Suchde, trailing 1—2, overcame hard—hitting Shaun le Roux. It was Suchde’s ability to finish the ball that saw him win the fourth game comfortably and win the decider from 5—all.

There seemed to be a repeat performance when Harinder Pal Singh Sandhu too fought back from 1—2 games against the ‘Ninja’ Clinton Leeuw.

Sandhu seemed to be in total control of the match winning the first and leading in the second. A string of unforced errors gave Leeuw the impetus and he grabbed his chances to take a lead.

It was Sandhu’s never—say—die attitude that ensured he was victorious in the 83—minute duel that could have gone either way.

In the third singles, Saurav Ghosal wrapped up the proceedings with a classy performance to beat Stephen Coppinger in straight games.

The results:

(6) India beat (11) South Africa 3—0: Siddharth Suchde bt Shaun le Roux 7—11, 11—6, 8—11, 11—1, 11—6 (80m); Harinder Pal Sandhu bt Clinton Leeuw 12—10, 9—11, 6—11, 11—9, 11—8 (83m); Saurav Ghosal bt Stephen Coppinger 11—5, 11—3, 11—4 (28m).

The line—up for the pre—quarter—finals is: (1) England vs Hong Kong China; (9) Italy vs (10) Mexico; (4) Australia vs (14) The Netherlands; (6) India vs Denmark; (5) Malaysia vs (11) South Africa; (3) France vs (13) Finland; (7) Canada vs (8) USA; (2) Egypt vs (16) Germany.

0 / 0
Sign in to unlock member-only benefits!
  • Access 10 free stories every month
  • Save stories to read later
  • Access to comment on every story
  • Sign-up/manage your newsletter subscriptions with a single click
  • Get notified by email for early access to discounts & offers on our products
Sign in

Comments

Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.

We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of The Hindu and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.