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 in Kathmandu. The team events get underway later in the day.
The gold medal for India came in the women’s singles, which was not a surprise with both the finalists being top seed Sunayna Kuruvilla and second seed Tanvi Khanna. The surprise was that it was Khanna who won, after a dramatic reversal of form.
Where Khanna seemed her usual self, Kuruvilla for a change looked a touch overawed by the occasion. Kuruvilla, looking a little lethargic in the front, helped Khanna to make the most of it. Playing her shots with confidence and pushing Kuruvilla around, Khanna won 11-8, 9-11, 12-10, 11-5. Kuruvilla took the silver medal.
In the men’s match involving the Pakistani top seed Tayyab Aslam and India’s Harinder Pal Sandhu, the latter looked a touch jaded after a marathon encounter the previous day. It was Aslam who dictated the tempo.
Even though Sandhu grabbed the first game, the fortunes swung from there in favour of Aslam, who won 8-11, 11-3, 11-6, 11-8 to bag gold. As the losing semi-finalist, Abhay Singh earned the bronze medal. The team events in both sections will be played on a round robin basis.