Multiple-time national champion Joshna Chinappa booked her place in the quarter-finals of the 2018 Commonwealth Games squash tournament after clinching straight-games win over Tamika Saxby of Australia in the women’s singles event here in Gold Coast, Australia on Friday.
The World No. 14, who picked the women’s doubles gold with Dipika Pallikal-Karthik in the last edition of the quadrennial sporting event, made everything looked so easy as she swept aside her Australian opponent Saxby 11-6, 11-8, 11-4 in a last-16 clash that lasted just 25 minutes.
Chinappa will now lock horns with the winner of another round-of-16 clash between New Zealand’s Joelle King and Malaysia’s Sivasangari Subramaniam.
Meanwhile, it was a heartbreak for Dipika Pallikal as she bowed out of the tournament after slumping to straight-games defeat at the hands of England’s Alison Waters.
Pallikal endured a crushing 3-11, 6-11 and 2-11 defeat against her England opponent in their women’s singles pre-quarterfinals.
However, it was curtains for Pallikal-Karthik as she was no match for England’s Alison Waters, going down 11-3, 11-6, 11-2.
In the men’s singles squash event, India’s Vikram Malhotra bounced back from a set down to win the second game but eventually failed to capitalize on the same and went down fighting 6-11, 11-8, 6-11, 6-11 defeat to top-seeded Englishman Nick Mathews in a clash that lasted 40 minutes.
With Vikram’s defeat, India’s campaign at the Commonwealth Games also folded.
Elsewhere in the CWG, the Indian lawn bowls team of Chandan Singh, Sunil Bahadur and Dinesh Kumar suffered a 14-15 defeat to England in the men’s Sectional Triples Sectional Play in round three.
Meanwhile, in the third round of the women’s singles event, Pinki lost to Litia Tikosisuva of Fiji 12-21.
