IPL 2023
India's top woman player, Joshna Chinappa did what seemed in the realms of a dream when she beat the former World number one, Nicol David of Malaysia in round two and enter the quarterfinal of the El Gouna International, a PSA world series event in Egypt on Sunday.
Joshna defeated Nicol 11-8, 11-8, 11-8 in 32 minutes and this is the first time in 15 meetings that the Indian had beaten this Malaysian legend.
Nicol is off course is not the same force as she was earlier but a top ten player above Joshna and seeded eight here in this event.
A delighted national coach Cyrus Poncha, said “ever since the Commonwealth Games campaign, Joshna has been determined to sharpen her skills in the run up to the Asian Games. This is a great day for Indian squash,” he said.
Nicol started slowly and fell behind by two games quickly as the Indian attacked well.
The World No.14 then stormed into a 7-1 lead in the third and, despite a late fightback from her Malaysian opponent,held on to claim her first ever win over Nicol David in 32 minutes.
“I don’t know how I did it,” Joshna was quoted as saying about her win on the PSA World Tour website.
Having won a silver medal in the recent Commonwealth Games in Australia, she said she was aware that she had a tough opening round and a possible match against Nicol David and wanted to play freely.
“I knew I had a tough first round, then Nicol in the pre-quarters, so I had no pressure and I just wanted to play freely and enjoy myself,” she added.
Joshna will meet the winner of the match between England’s Laura Massaro or Hong Kong’s Joey Chan in the last eight of the PSA World Series event.
Joshna had started her campaign with a 8-11, 11-8, 14-12, 11-4 win over Egypt’s wild card entrant Rowan Reda Araby.
Dipika Pallikal Karthik, the other Indian in the fray, went down to Camille Serme of France 10-12, 7-11, 12-14 in the opening round.
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