The Squash Rackets Federation of India on Friday felicitated India’s top squash players who won medals in the Commonwealth and Asian Games earlier this year.
V.K. Jeyakodi, member secretary, Sports Development Authority of Tamil Nadu, the chief guest for the evening, felicitated Dipika Pallikal, Joshna Chinappa, Aparajitha Balamurukan, Harinder Pal Sandhu, Kush Kumar, Saurav Ghosal, Anaka Alankamony and Mahesh Mangaonkar.
Ghosal, who was part of the men’s team that won the Asian Games gold, was not able to attend the event.
In a message he said, “while I regret missing the gold in the individual event, winning the team gold along with Mahesh, Kush and my best friend Harry [Harinder Pal] was definitely the happiest moment of my life and I will always cherish it.”
Ghosal, Alankamony and Mangaonkar were not present on the occasion as well.
Thanking RitwikJoshna who won the doubles gold in CWG in Glasgow with Paliklal and bagged the silver medal in the women’s team event in the Asian Games thanked her coach and former Indian player Ritwik Bhattacharya for helping her find her game back after being out action for six months due to injury in 2013.
She said, “During my rehabilitation, Riwik helped me a lot and counselled me a lot to get my spirits back up and made me believe I could compete at the highest level again.”
Sandhu, who recently won the JSW-PSA Challenger event in the city, said, “We started working for the CWG and Asian Games for the past one year, worked hard day in and day out, and it was great we were able to win the gold for India.”
