Chennai: India started their campaign in the Squash World Cup 2023 by blanking Hong Kong 4-0 in their opening Pool B match at the Express Avenue Mall as the comcpetition returned to action after a gap of 12 years here on Tuesday.
No.2 seeds India, backed by a boisterous home crowd made the ideal start to their Pool B campaign with four wins out of four against Hong Kong, China.
Abhay Singh gave India a superb start by beating Chung Yat Long 7-2, 7-3, 7-6 while Joshna Chinappa defeated Ching Hei Fund 7-1, 7-5, 7-5 to make it 2-0 for the hosts.
The 2014 Asian Games medallist Saurav Ghosal lost the first game but came back to beat Andes Ling 5-7, 7-2, 7-5, 7-1 and Tanvi Khanna fought back from two games down to beat Toby Tae 5-7, 6-7, 7-1, 7-4, 7-3 to seal a comprehensive win for India.
India face South Africa on Wednesday in Pool B, with the No.7 seeds going down 3-1 to No.3 seeds Japan in the opening tie of the day.
In Pool A, pre-tournament favourites and defending champions Egypt showed their class with a shutout of Australia.
Up first for Egypt, Karim El Hammamy bounced back from a troubled start to beat Nicholas Calvert 3-1, with Fayrouz Aboelkheir then repeating the trick as she came back from a game down to beat Jessica Turnbull by the same scoreline.
Egypt saw out the rest of the contest more comfortably, with Aly Abou Eleinen and Kenzy Ayman beating Joseph White and Alexandra Haydon in straight games.
Egypt will face Colombia on Wednesday, with the No.8 seeds losing to No.4 seeds Malaysia 3-1.
Eight teams – hosts India, Australia, Colombia, Egypt, Hong Kong China, Japan, Malaysia and South Africa – are competing for the title at Chennai. Egypt are the reigning champion, having won the title in 2011.
The Squash World Cup 2023 is being conducted in two phases – the first group stage and the second knockout/classification stage.
(IANS)
