Sourav and Dipika enter squash quarterfinals

The Indians, including men’s top seed Sourav Ghosal, had a safe ride on the opening day of the squash event at the Asian Games here on Thursday.

Sourav, last Asiad’s silver medallist, and his team-mate Harinder Pal Sandhu dropped a game each in the men’s singles but Joshna Chinnappa and Dipika Pallikal did not have to work that hard in the women’s singles as they moved to the quarterfinals.

The results (singles):

Men’s pre-quarterfinals: Sourav Ghosal (Ind) bt Aslam Tayyab (Pak) 11-5, 11-3, 11-13, 11-8; Harinder Pal Sandhu (Ind) bt Robert Garcia (Phi) 11-4, 2-11, 12-10, 15-13. First round: Sourav Ghosal bt Mukthar Wakeel (Sri) 11-2, 11-2, 11-1; Harinder bt Ko Youngjo (Kor) 11-8, 11-3, 11-5.

Women’s pre-quarterfinals: Dipika Pallikal (Ind) bt Siti Rohmah (Ina) 11-6, 11-5, 11-5; Joshna Chinnappa (Ind) bt Jemyca Aribado (Phi) 11-2, 11-8, 12-10.