Dipika, Joshna post fine win

After her giant-killing act against World No 1 Nicol David and her partner in women’s doubles, India’s Dipika Pallikal teamed up with Sourav Ghosal to notch up a straight-game win over Canada’s Sam Cornett and Shawn Delierre in a mixed doubles Pool E match of squash event at the 20th Commonwealth Games here on Tuesday.

The 22-year-old Pallikal and Ghosal thrashed the 12th seeds from Canada 11-3, 11-2 to top pool E, which also has Sri Lanka, at Scotstoun Campus here.

In Pool G, Harinder Pal Sandhu and Joshna Chinappa defeated New Zealand’s Paul Coll and Amanda Landers-Murphy 11-8, 11-10.

Earlier in the day, Pallikal and Chinappa made a big stride towards ending India’s medal drought at the Commonwealth Games by beating the mighty Malaysian pair of Nicol David and Low Wee Wern in the women’s doubles.

The fifth seeds from India brushed aside David and Wee Wern 11-8, 11-5 for their second win in as many matches in Pool D.

David is a legend of the game and on Monday had retained her singles title at the Commonwealth Games.

The surprising result also showed that the India duo’s win over the formidable combine in a tri-nation tournament in Malaysia was no fluke.