CHENNAI: IN a historic achievement, the India squash team persevered to complete an unprecedented three gold medal sweep in the men's, women's and mixed doubles at the Asian Doubles Championships in Kushing, Malaysia, which concluded on Thursday. This gold medal hat-trick has never been done before at any Asian or any World doubles squash championships.
In an intense men's doubles match, Abhay Singh and Velavan Senthilkumar saw off the threat of Noor Zaman and Nasir Iqbal of Pakistan. Despite losing the first game 9-11, Abhay and Velavan responded in well to recover. With better length, discipline and court coverage, they outpaced the Pakistani pair in the second and third games. The 88-minute long match saw the Indian duo dominate long rallies forcing the Pakistan pair into unforced errors.
Veteran Joshna Chinappa and young sensation Anahat Singh had a tough start in the women's doubles final, losing the first game to top guns Amani & Xin Ying Yee of Malaysia. After winning the second, they saw themselves 5-9 down in the deciding game. They displayed mental resilience and equalised the game before securing the match.
Rounding off a golden day for India, Abhay teamed up with the teen Anahat to deliver a strategic masterclass in the mixed doubles final. Despite Abhay having already played a tiring 88-minute match, the pair maintained sharpness, consistently placing the ball into tough corners and forcing errors from their Malaysian pair Ameeshenraj Chandran & Rachel Arnold.
Cyrus Poncha, Secretary of the Squash Rackets Federation of India, lauded the performances. "It is certainly a good move to have the National Doubles meet a month before this meet to ascertain the best athletes," said the former coach. The men's doubles final, according to Poncha was a nail-biting affair. "The game went on for almost an hour and a half. The Pakistanis gave a tough fight, and it went down to the wire," he said, adding that the long rallies were a joy to watch. Poncha said that this victory is a pre-cursor to next year's Asian Games. "The goal would be to repeat this feat next year. I am sure that the players will be fired up to perform there," he signed off.
Results: men's doubles: Abhay/Velavan bt. Noor/Nasir (Pakistan) 9-11, 11-5, 11-5; women's doubles: Joshna/Anahat bt Amani/Xin Ying Yee (Malaysia) 8-11, 11-9, 11-10 Abhay /Anahat bt Ameeshenraj/Rachel (Malaysia) 11-9, 11-7