Kuala Lumpur: After a mixed bag of results on Thursday, Indian boys and girls were just one win away from the semi-finals in the Asian junior team squash championship being held here.
Indian boys cruised to an easy win over Chinese Taipei while the girls went down fighting to the higher-ranked second seeded Hong Kong.
The boys' tie proved a washout with Kush Kumar, Sandeep Ramachandran and Yohan Pandole, making his first appearance, way ahead of the Chinese Taipei players. With three wins, India topped pool C and will play Iran Friday for a semi-final berth.
In the girls' section, India expectedly had tough opponents in Hong Kong. Still, Adya Advani showed she can be a stern opponent by her great display. After the team's top seeded Harshit Kaur went down with little to offer, Adya ran Lui Hiu Lam close before losing in the fifth game.
With the tie decided, Akanksha Salunkhe won the dead third match to make it 2-1 in Hong Kong's favour. With this defeat, India are placed second in pool B behind Hong Kong. A win against Sri Lanka next will see India through into the semi-finals.
Results:
Boys: Pool C: India beat Chinese-Taipei 3-0 (Kush kumar bt Chu Ching Hsuan 11-1, 11-6, 11-2; Sandeep Ramachandran bt Wu Szu-Hsien 11-2, 11-1, 11-2; Yohan Pandole bt Cheng Yung-Tse 11-1, 11-2, 11-3).
Girls: Pool B: Hong Kong beat India 2-1 (Choi Uen Shan bt Harshit Kaur 11-8, 11-9, 11-2; Lui Hiu Lam bt Adya Advani 7-11, 11-6, 10-12, 11-6, 11-9; Ho Ka Wing lost to Akanksha Salunkhe 6-11, 11-6, 11-7, 12-14, 8-11).
