INCHEON: Gold proved elusive but it was nonetheless a historic silver for the Indian women's squash team after it went down to Malaysia in the final of the 17th Asian Games here today.
The team lost 0-2 to Malaysia to settle for the silver after Deepika Pallikal and Anaka Alankamony lost their matches in a contest which lasted a little over an hour.
Alankamony opened the proceedings for India and did up some fight before going down 9-11 10-12 2-11 to Odette Arnold Delia in 43 minutes. Next up was Dipika Pallikal, who once again came face to face against world number one Nicol David after losing the singles semifinal to her earlier this week.
The face off, however, did not yield a different result as Pallikal went down 7-11 6-11 3-11 in 29 minutes. Joshana Chinappa's inconsequential final rubber did not take place after her rival Wee Wern Low withdrew from the contest.
The defeat notwithstanding, this will still be india's best performance in the Asian Games squash competition as the men are also assured of at least a silver after reaching the final of the team competition.
Top singles player Saurav Ghosal has already added a historic silver to the medal list -- a first in the Asian Games squash. Pallikal, on the other hand, had won a bronze medal in the women's singles, also a first for Indian squash.