Kathmandu: India finished with a gold, two silver and a bronze medal in the squash individual events which concluded on Sunday in the South Asian Games being held here. The team events get underway later in the day.
The gold medal for India came in the women’s singles which in any case was not a surprise with both the finalists being top seed Sunayna Kuruvilla and second seed Tanvi Khanna. The surprise was that it was Tanvi who won, after a dramatic reversal of form. Where Tanvi, ever keen to put in her best, seemed her usual self, Sunanya for a change looked a touch overawed by the occasion. Sunayna looking a little lethargic in the front helped Tanvi to make the most of the rival’s discomfiture. Playing her shots with confidence and pushing Sunayna around, Tanvi grabbed the chance to script a 11-8, 9-11, 12-10, 11-5 win and cover herself with glory. Sunayna took the silver medal.
In the men’s match involving the Pakistani top seed Tayyab Aslam and India’s Harinder Pal Sandhu, the Indian looked a touch jaded after the long match overnight. Though his characteristic fight surfaced, Tayyab looked lot more agile to dictate the tempo leaving Harinder to do all the retrievals. Even though Harinder grabbed the first game, the fortunes swung from there in favour of Tayyab. The Pakistan player ensured a 8-11, 11-3, 11-6, 11-8 win for the gold. Harinder settled for the silver medal. As the losing semi-finalist, Abhay Singh earned the bronze medal.
The team events in both sections are to be played on a round robin basis.
