Blitz Bureau
NEW DELHI: The Indian men’s and women’s teams continued their impressive run as both reached the knockout stage of the World Squash Team Championships 2024, reaching the pre-quarterfinals in contrasting style in Hong Kong on December 10.
The women’s team defeated Italy 3-0 while the men went down 1-2 to Colombia but managed to advance to the knockout stage as Colombia later defeated Ireland, ensuring the Indians finished second in their preliminary group.
The Indian men’s team will face Malaysia in the pre-quarterfinals, while the women’s team will play Australia in the next stage. The pre-quarterfinals in both sections will consist of 12 teams, out of which four will be given a bye. Both the Indian men’s and women’s teams will play their pre-quarterfinal matches on Wednesday.
In its last league match, the Indian women’s team defeated Italy 3-0 with Akanksha Salunkhe, Anahat Singh and Nirupama Dubey winning their respective matches in straight games. Nirupama Dubey, 206th in the squash rankings, defeated Beatrice Filippi 3-0 (11-4, 11-3, 11-1) in only 15 minutes in the opening match of the tie.
Anahat Singh, world No. 95, backed it up with another 3-0 (11-3, 11-9, 11-3) win against world No. 131 Cristina Tartarone. Akanksha Salunkhe, India’s highest-ranked player in the team at world No. 70, defeated Flavia Miceli 3-0 (11-3, 11-3, 11-1) to cap off a terrific win for the Indian women’s team.
The Indian men’s team lost 2-1 to Colombia but with the latter later defeating Ireland, the Indian men finished second in the group and progressed to the pre-quarterfinals.
World No. 54 Abhay Singh lost the opening match 3-1 (4-11, 8-11, 11–5, 4-11) to Miguel Rodriguez, 17th in the men’s rankings. Veer Chotrani got India back on level terms with a terrific result. Chotrani, ranked 87th, won 3-1 (11-8, 11-9, 12-14, 11-5) against a higher-ranked Juan Camilo Vargas (39th).
Suraj Kumar Chand (159th) faced an uphill task against world No. 78 Ronald Palomino in the final match of the tie and lost in straight games (11-5, 11-6, 11-3). Colombia won 2-1 and later defeated Ireland to top the group.
