Harinder Pal Sandhu defeated Abdullah Al-Tamimi of Qatar, the sixth seed, 4-11, 11-6, 8-11, 11-6, 11-6 to enter the quarterfinals of the Jio-19th Asian squash championship at the Express Avenue Mall here on Thursday.
Joining Harinder into the quarterfinals was another Indian, Vikram Malhotra. The 27-year-old had an easy 11-1, 11-4, 11-9 victory over Muhammad Addeen Idrakie of Malaysia.
Joshna Chinappa, the second seed, beat Jemyca Aribado of Philippines 11-7, 11-9, 11-7 to reach the last eight. She will next take on Misaki Kobayashi of Japan, seeded seventh.
Entertaining
The Harinder-Al-Tamimi contest was entertaining with both players stretching their sinews for every point. Ranked 58 places below Al-Tamimi, Harinder’s resilience and fighting spirit helped him emerge winner.
Al-Tamimi, though not a quick mover as Harinder, played smart squash with deft placements in the first and third games. Harinder fought back in the fourth and fifth games refusing to give up. With fine placements, Harinder raced away to a 9-6 lead in the decider, and never looked back.
“I’ve had hamstring injuries and back problems. My results have come in patches. Consistency has been my problem. I have to stay strong and injury-free to reach my goal of top 50 in the world,” said Harinder, a winner of five PSA titles.
Leo Au, the fifth seed of Hong Kong, shut out Ng Eain Yow, the reigning World junior champion from Malaysia 11-7, 14-12, 11-7, to enter the last eight. Leo will take on his teammate Yip Tsz Fung, the fourth seed.
India’s Velavan Senthilkumar (men) and Sunayna Kuruvilla (women) bowed out in the pre-quarterfinals. While Velavan lost to Malaysia’s Ivan Yuen 11-1, 11-1, 11-8, Sunayna went down to Tong Tsz Wing of Hong Kong 11-6, 11-4, 11-6.
The results (pre-quarterfinals): Men: 3-Mohd. Nafiizwan Adnan (Mas) bt Ahmad Alsaraj (Jor) 11-3, 11-2, 11-1; 5-Leo Au (Hkg) bt 14-Ng Eain Yow (Mas) 11-7, 14-12, 11-7; 7-Yuen Chee Wern (Mas) bt Velavan Senthilkumar 11-1, 11-1, 11-8; 4-Yip Tsz Fung (Hkg) bt 11-Mahesh Mangaonkar 12-10, 8-11, 11-8, 11-3; 15-Harinder Pal Sandhu bt 6-Abdulla Al-Tamimi (Qat) 4-11, 11-6, 8-11, 11-6, 11-6; 10-Vikram Malhotra bt Muhamman Addeen Idraikie (Mas) 11-1, 11-4, 11-9.
Women: 16-Satomi Watanabe (Jpn) bt 8-Rachel Mae Arnold (Mas) 10-12, 11-7, 5-11, 11-5, 11-4; 5-Liu Tsz Ling (Hkg) bt Eum Hwayeong (Kor) 11-6, 11-6, 11-4; Tong Tsz Wing (Hkg) bt Sunayna Kuruvilla 11-6, 11-4, 11-6; 7-Misaki Kobayashi (Jpn) bt Aifa Azman (Mas) 11-6, 12-10, 2-11, 11-4 .
