Indian men face Pakistan in semifinals

Indian men face Pakistan in semifinals

Hong Kong, July 10: Indian men set up a semifinal meeting with Pakistan in the 10th Asian Squash Team Championship after recording a 3-0 verdict against Japan at the Hong Kong Squash Centre on Monday.

Bhattacharya tried too many fancy drops in the second game and was successful at times but that generally contributed to many of his unforced errors as well.

Chotrani was in full flow against Akira Ito in the second match and won 9-4 9-5 9-3. Dhiraj Singh completed the formality of winding up the match with a 9-0 9-4 (best of three) victory.

In the women's section, 22-year-old Mekhala produced a creditable result when she topped world 17 seed Mami Nishio to give India lead. Mekhala, who was sick after the singles matches, recovered in time for the match and looked far from her best in the first game which she lost 4-9.

But she rallied splendidly with her front-court superiority that had the Japanese gasping for breath. Nishio concentrated mainly on rallies but the Indian was too good for her.

Mekhala won 4-9 9-7 9-7 9-1. However, Deepali Anvekar lost to Haoru Tateno 6-9 3-9 3-9 in 24 minutes and Vaidehi Reddy went down to Eri Tsuchida 4-9 3-9 7-9 in 27 minutes.

Earlier in the morning, Indian men lost 0-3 to Malaysia while the women routed Thailand 3-0 in pool matches. In men's quarter-finals, Pakistan, Malaysia and Hong Kong registered 3-0 victories over Philippines, Thailand and Singapore respectively.