JOIN USIndian squash star Joshna Chinappa suffered a 1-3 defeat against World No 4 Joelle King of New Zealand in the round of 16 to crash out of the women’s singles competition at the 20th Commonwealth Games here on Friday.
The 27-year-old from Chennai, who won the Winnipeg Winter Open trophy, her maiden WSA world title in February this year, lost 3-11, 8-11, 11-8, 5-11 against her third seeded opponent at the Scotstoun Campus.
India’s other star performer, Dipika Pallikal advanced to the quarterfinals of women’s singles event, while their best bet in men’s section Saurav Ghosal made the last 16 stage.
Eyeing a medal after missing out on the last edition at home due to fever, Pallikal thrashed Charlotte Knaggs of Trinidad and Tobago 3-0 (11-4, 11-2, 11-1). The Chennai girl will take on Delia Arnold of Malaysia in her next match.
Meanwhile, in the men’s section, Ghosal posted a resounding 3-0 (11-4, 11-4, 11-7) win over Paul Coll of New Zealand.
But there were disappointments in store for Harinder Pal Sandhu, Mahesh Mangaonkar and Anaka Alankamony, who failed to progress further after starting their campaign on a positive note.
In the round of 32 match, Mangaonkar lost to England’s Peter Barker 0-3 (4-11, 6-11, 2-11), while Sandhu was shown the door by Alan Clyne of Scotland 2-3 (14-12, 9-11, 15-13, 1-11, 9-11).
Earlier, Ghosal had beaten Jules Snagg of St Vincent And The Grenadines 3-0.