Birmingham, Aug 3: Breaking a long-standing jinx, Saurav Ghosal on Wednesday claimed India’s first ever singles medal in squash – a bronze – at the Commonwealth Games here.
World No.15 Ghosal dominated the contest against England’s James Willstrop from beginning to end, winning 11-6 11-1 11-4 in the bronze play-off.
It is Ghosal’s second CWG medal, having won a mixed doubles silver with Dipika Pallikal in the 2018 Gold Coast edition.
The 35-year-old Ghosal proved too strong for his opponent as he outclassed the Englishman in all aspects, from court coverage to placement of his shots.
Ghosal took the first game quite comfortably against home favourite Willstrop and extended his domination by winning the second game by a bigger margin to place himself within striking distance of scripting history. The third game was also won without much difficulty.
Earlier, the mixed doubles pair of veteran Joshna Chinappa and Harinder Pal Singh Sandhu progressed to the pre-quarterfinals. The immensely experienced Chinappa and her partner Sandhu downed Sri Lanka’s Yeheni Kuruppu and Ravindu Laksiri 8-11 11-4 11-3.
The Indians were a bit shaky initially and ended up conceding the first game.
However, they quickly turned things around and made a strong comeback to bag the next two games without breaking much sweat.
Sunayna Kuruvilla also defeated Fung-A-Fat of Guyana in the women’s squash singles plate final.
Sunayna downed her Guyanese opponent 11-7 13-11 11-2 in what turned out to be a comfortable victory for the 23-year-old squash player. (PTI)
