Nagoya: The Indian men’s squash team was beaten 2-1 by Malaysia in the semifinal of the Asian Games men’s team event at the Nagoya Kinjo Futo Arena on Thursday.
Velavan Senthilkumar’s 1-3 (12-10, 6-11, 8-11, 9-11) loss to Ameeshenraj Chandaran sealed the tie in favour of Malaysia, ending India’s hopes of retaining its gold from three years ago.
India’s top seed Abhay Singh also lost his match against Eain Yow Ng 0-3 (8-11, 8-11, 8-11), in a rematch of the men’s singles final from earlier in the event.
Veer Chotrani won his match 3-0 (11-4, 11-8, 11-5) against Jeeva Sanjay to force a decider.
Earlier in the day, the women’s too settled for bronze after losing to Hong Kong, China in the semis.
Anahat Singh lost 11-9, 11-8, 6-11, 11-13, 10-12 in five games to Sin Yuk Chan in the opening match of the tie before Tanvi Khanna levelled things with a 4-11, 13-11, 11-9, 13-11 win over Ka Yi Lee.
However, Joshna Chinappa suffered a defeat to Tze Lok Ho (11-4, 11-7, 11-9) to confirm that India would take bronze.
Anahat raced into a two-game lead in 14 minutes, but surrendered multiple opportunities to seal the match before collapsing to defeat in 36 minutes.
Tanvi responded strongly, bouncing back from a quick defeat in the opening game to win the tie in 26 minutes.
Joshna struggled to match up with Tze, folding out in straight games as India settled for a second-consecutive bronze Asiad medal in this event. Agencies
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