IMAGE: Saurav Ghosal celebrates after winning the bronze medal in the men’s singles at the Commonwealth Games on Wednesday. Photograph: Luke Walker/2022 Getty Images
Breaking a long-standing jinx, Saurav Ghosal on Wednesday claimed India’s first ever singles medal in squash — a bronze — at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham.
World No.15 Ghosal dominated the contest against England’s James Willstrop as he registered an emphatic 3-0 victory — 11-6, 11-1, 11-4 — in the bronze medal play-off.
It is Ghosal’s second CWG medal, having won a mixed doubles silver with Dipika Pallikal in the 2018 Gold Coast edition.
The 35-year-old Ghosal proved too strong for his opponent as he outclassed the Englishman in all aspects of the game, from court coverage to placement of his shots.
Ghosal had lost the men’s singles semi-final 3-0 to New Zealand’s Paul Coll.
IMAGE: Saurav Ghosal routed former World No 1 James Willstrop of England in straight games to win India’s first-ever singles medal in squash at the Commonwealth Games. Photograph: Luke Walker/2022 Getty Images
Earlier in the day, the mixed doubles pair of veteran Joshna Chinappa and Harinder Pal Singh Sandhu progressed to the pre-quarterfinals.
The immensely experienced Chinappa and her partner Sandhu downed Sri Lanka’s Yeheni Kuruppu and Ravindu Laksiri 8-11, 11-4, 11-3.
The Indians were a bit shaky initially and ended up conceding the first game.
However, they quickly turned things around and made a strong comeback to bag the next two games without breaking much sweat.
Sunayna Kuruvilla also defeated Fung-A-Fat of Guyana in the women’s squash singles non-medal plate final.
Sunayna downed her Guyanese opponent 11-7, 13-11, 11-2 in what turned out to be a comfortable victory for the 23-year-old squash player.
