Indian men surprise but go down to Malaysia

Indians put up a brave fight against the Malaysians. India lost the first singles when Harinder Pal Singh Sandhu lost to Mohd Nafizwan Adnan 10-12, 9-11, 11-13, but Ghosal came up with a brilliant performance to tame No ranked Modh Azlan Iskander 2-11, 11-8, 11-2, 11-4. With the teams tied, the pressure was on Siddharth Suchde who faced Malaysia No.2 Ong Ben Hee. The match lasted all of 75 minutes at the end of which Hee came through 11-6, 8-11, 14-12, 4-11, 11-2.

Malaysia play Pakistan in the final, who beat Kuwait 2-0.

Indian women enter finals

Indian women entered the final of the team event of the Asian squash championship after an eight-year interval with a polished win against Korea in the semi-finals here Friday and will clash with Hong Kong who upstaged fancied Malaysia. The Indian women have every chance of annexing the title tomorrow as they had beaten Hong Kong in the league stage. India had last made the final in 2002, but lost.

Young Anaka Alakamony set the ball rolling for the Indians when she beat Kim Ga Hye 11-8, 11-3, 11-8 in just 20 minutes. National champion Joshna Chinappa followed by taking the second singles with a 11-2, 11-4, 11-8 rout of Song Sun Mi in 22 minutes to clinch the issue.

In the other semi-final, Hong Kong bounced back after losing the opening singles to beat Malaysia l