Mixed fortunes for Indian squash players in Commonwealth Games

Sun, Oct 10 10 11:07 PM

Sabi Hussain New Delhi, Oct 10 (PTI) Indian racqueters suffered mixed fortunes in the qualifying rounds of the Doubles events when women''s pair of Anaka Alnakamony and Surbhi Misra triumphed in just 13 minutes but 11th seed pair of Sandeep Jangra and Harinder Pal Sandhu went down fighting to the Malaysians in the Commonwealth Games squash events here. The experienced pair of Alankamony and Misra cruised to an 11-2, 11-4 win over Kenya''s Safina Madhani and Khaaliqa Nimji, both making their maiden appearance in the Games, on a conventional glass-backed court at the Siri Fort Sports Complex. "It went well, we played a few good shots and capitalised on their mistakes. We want to get as close to a medal as we can. We are pairing up well and hope to come out with some good performances ahead," said Misra. The pair showed great athleticism with soft drop shots and dying length to the back corners to outclass their lesser known opponents. Both games saw some excellent volleys and good ground strokes. However, the men''s doubles pair of Jangra and Sandhu failed to rise on the occasion and lost 11-6 7-11 7-11 to sixth seed pair of Mohammad Azlan Iskandar and Mohd Nafiizwan in an hour-long contest. Malaysians again showed their doubles prowess and displayed some excellent volleys and good ground strokes to outclass local stars in the Pool 6 match. "Doubles is a whole different ball game. It''s all about communication. We made a few errors, and they took advantage of us," said Sandhu. The day also saw other top seed pairs including Peter Barker/Daryl Paul Selby of England and Australia''s David Palmer/Stewart Boswell and Kasey Brown/Cameron Pilley dominating the all-glass court. Third seed English pair of Barker and Selby displayed some of their famed dead drop winners to reduce their opponents to a mere spectator. The English pair scored a fluent 11-7 11-6 victory over 14th seed Malta''s pair of Bradley Hindle and Michael Fiteni. The Australian second seed pair of Boswell and Palmer defeated Zambia''s Ray Simbule and Kelvin Ndhlovu 11-3 11-9 in the men''s doubles in just 16 minutes while in the mixed doubles category, Brown and Pilley defeated Malaysia''s Sharon Wee and Ivan Yuen 11-1 11-6 in 27 minutes.

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