Commonwealth Games: Saurav Ghosal storms into semifinals; Joshna Chinappa crashes out-Sports News , Firstpost

File photo of Saurav Ghosal. Twitter/SAI

Indian squash star Saurav Ghosal reached the Commonwealth Games semifinals after defeating Scotland’s World No. 34 Greg Lobban 11-5, 8-11, 11-7, 11-3 in Birmingham on Monday. The victory came right after women’s squash World No. 17 Joshna Chinappa lost out in the women’s quarterfinals to Canada’s Hollie Naughton in straight games 11-9, 11-5, 15-13

For Saurav, this is the second time the World No. 15 reached the semi-finals at the CWG as he lost at the stage followed by the bronze medal match in 2014 Glasgow. On Monday, 35-year-old Ghosal looked in control against 29-year-old Lobban for the majority of the game. Ghosal enjoyed supremacy for the majority of the first game but Lobban did try to catch-up later on. The Scottish No. 1, however, was shunned by the Indian as he closed the game.

Lobban came back stronger in the second game and eventually won it 8-11. However, Ghosal brought his years of experience and recent form — semi-final appearance in Tournament of Champions and 2021 Malaysian Open title — into the game and closed out the remaining two games in no time to close the match.

Ghosal is now a win away from ensuring medal but winning the semis is harder said than done as he will face World No. 2 Paul Coll on Tuesday (2 August).

Earlier, Chinappa had her chances in the match to win the opening game early as she led by a point. However, a strong showing by the Canadian World No. 20 saw the Indian lose three consecutive points to concede the first game. Making most of the momentum, Naughton took the second game in a jiffy 11-5 as the 35-year-old Indian struggled to match the agility and pace of the inferior-ranked southpaw on the day.

The third game turned out to be a close affair as the duo kept taking points off each other but Chinappa got herself in a good position by earning the first game ball. However, a relentless Naughton never gave up as the 27-year-old Canadian saved four game balls to final take the final game 15-13.

Following the loss, Chinappa admitted that she wasn’t able to be as good as her opponent on the day.

“Today she played better than me,” Chinappa told the official broadcasters. “It may look different from the outside but I was trying my best to win those points but today she did it better.”

Before signing off, the 18-time national champion said she is not thinking about the doubles matches yet, where she will partner Dipika Pallikal among gold medal favourites, and wants to reflect on her defeat in the singles first.

Earlier in the afternoon, India’s Sunayna Sana Kuruvilla defeated Sri Lanka’s Chanithma Sinaly in the plate quarter-finals of the women’s singles.
A 23-year-old from Kochi, Sunayna proved too strong for her opponent, winning 11-3 11-2 11-2 in just 12 minutes.
Sunayna will compete in the women’s singles plate semi-finals later tonight.

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