Mumbai: The seeds for the Asian squash championship scheduled from April 26 to April 30 have been announced. India’s leading squash players Saurav Ghosal, Joshna Chinappa have been seeded second in their respective division.
Dipika Pallikal is seeded fourth who will also start with a bye along with the former two. In Men’s 64-player draw, other Indian players joining Ghosal are Vikram Malhotra (10), Mahesh Mangaonkar (11), Harinder Pal Singh Sandhu (15) and Velavan Senthilkumar.
In the Women’s section, 32-player draw, only two players, Dipika Pallikal and Joshna Chinappa, who are going to start with a bye are the only seeded players while the remaining players are unseeded.
Sachika Ingale and Lakshya R faces Aifa Azman and Zoe Foo from Malaysia respectively, Akanksha Salunkhe faces the 16th seed Satomi Watanabe of Japan and Sunayna Kuruvilla faces Choe Yura from Korea. In the opener, Aditya Jagtap plays Ryunosuke Tsukue from Japan.
According to the seedings, the top positions in both the sections have gone to Hong Kong players max lee and Annie Au.
Other seeds:
Men’s: 3. Mohamad Nafizwan Adnan (Malaysia), 4. Yip Tsz fung (Hong Kong), 5. Leo Au (Hong Kong), 6. Abdulla Al-Tamini (Qatar).
Women: 3. Joey Chan (Hong Kong), 4. Dipika Pallikal Karthik (India), 5. Liu Tsz Ling (Hong Kong), 6. Tong Tsz Wing (Hong Kong).
In the 2015, Asian squash championship, which was held in Kuwait, Leo Au of Hong Kong and Nicol David of Malaysia had won the men’s and women’s championship respectively. But, this time Nicol David is not taking part in the event. So, that makes it easier for Hong Kong squashes to clinch the title and the major obstacle for them will be presented by the Indian contingent.
The website of Pakistan Sports Board has confirmed that their squash team will take part in the championship which is going to be held in Chennai.
“I’m sure with top class facilities and international standard coaching, Pakistani players will soon regain their lost touch and start playing at the highest level,” the new Pakistan Squash Federation Secretary while giving interview to -The Nation- a Pakistan daily.
Amid rumours of them not participating in the championship, it seems they would make a trip, as they have submitted all the necessary paperwork.
(With inputs from The Indian Express and The Hindu)