India’s Joshna Chinappa had a tough first round against unseeded Haley Mendez of US but managed to win in five games to open her campaign in the CIB PSA women’s world squash championship at the Great Pyramids in Cairo late on Thursday. The Indian won 9-11, 12-10,8-11, 11-6, 11-6.
The 12th seeded Joshna admitted she was a touch nervous in the start and with Haley playing well things turned tough. However, the Indian showed her fighting qualities to catch up and dish out a steady game towards the end to make it a simple finish.
Another Indian Sunayna Kuruvilla went down in the first round against Nele Gilis of Belgium. Sunayna started off well, winning the first game but thereafter it was the Belgian all the way. Nele won 8-11, 11-7, 11-4, 11-5.
The Egyptian men’s Open is also been held simultaneously and the interest for India here is Vikram Malhotra and Saurav Ghosal. Ghosal has a bye into the second round. Earlier Ramit Tandon went down in the opening round to Leo Au of HongKong. Leo won 11-5, 11-7, 11-2.
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