Asian Games 2023 squash: Indian men’s team beats Pakistan in thrilling final to win gold medal
The Indian team won 2-1 in the final in Hangzhou. Abhay Singh saved two gold medal points to secure a nail-biting victory.
Squash
India beat arch-rivals Pakistan 2-1 in the final to win the gold medal at the Asian Games 2023 men’s team squash event in Hangzhou, the People’s Republic of China on Saturday.
In the final, Mahesh Mangaonkar lost the opener before Saurav Ghosal levelled the scores. Abhay Singh persevered in an enticing decider to win his team the top podium.
India had also lost 2-1 to Pakistan in the group stage earlier this week.
In the final, Mahesh Mangaonkar opened the proceedings for India but struggled against Nasir Iqbal and went down 3-0 (11-8, 11-3, 11-2) in just 11 minutes.
Saurav Ghosal then drew India level with a straight-set win in the second match. The Indian squash player trailed in the initial stages of his match but rallied back to beat Muhammad Asim Khan 3-0 (11-5, 11-1, 11-3) and kept India in the hunt.
In an enthralling decider, Abhay Singh won the first game before losing the next two. The Indian squash player, however, dug deep to beat Noor Zaman 3-2 (11-7, 9-11, 8-11, 11-9, 12-10) to clinch the tie in India’s favour.
Abhay Singh, 25, saved two championship points in the deciding game to deny Pakistan.
"Abhay pulled off a phenomenal victory," Mangaonkar said. "After being a match ball down and coming back the way he did, it was extremely courageous of him, the way he played the last few points, it was fabulous!"
This was India’s second-ever gold medal in squash at the Asian Games. The previous one was also won by the men’s team - at Incheon 2014. Saurav Ghosal and Mahesh Mangaonkar were also a part of the champion team from Incheon.
En route to the final, the Indian men's squash team registered a hard-fought 2-0 victory over 2018 champions Malaysia in the semi-finals. They made the knockouts after finishing second behind Pakistan in Pool A. Only the top two teams from each pool progressed to the last-four.
The Indian men’s team had finished with a bronze medal at the 2018 Jakarta Games in Indonesia.
The women’s team ended its Hangzhou 2023 squash campaign with a bronze medal after losing to Hong Kong China in the semi-finals on Friday.
Indian squash players will next be in action in the singles and mixed doubles events which start on October 1.