Anaka wins gold at Asian Junior squash
Anaka Alankamony was the only Indian to get the gold medal after winning the girls’ under -15 title in the Asian junior individual squash championship, which concluded on Sunday at Busan, South Korea.
On the other hand, Mangaonkar and Dipika Pallikal settled for silver after losing their respective finals in the tournament.
Expressing his feelings on Anaka’s victory, Cyrus Poncha, the National Coach, sais that it was a terrific performance by Anaka.
Anaka defeated Hong Kong’s Ho Ka Po in games 9-6, 9-6, 9-5 in the girls’ under-15 category final clinch her eighth international title.
"Down 1-6 in the first two games, Anaka hit some brilliant hard drives and delicate drops. She was made to move to all corners by Po but prevailed in the end," Cyrus Poncha said.
However, Pallikal and Mangaonkar had to be content with runner-up finishes.
While second seed Pallikal was outplayed 1-9, 6-9, 0-9 by top seed Malaysian Low Wee Wern in the under-19 girls final, Mangaonkar went down 4-9, 4-9, 3-9 to top seed Pakistan's Nasir Iqbal in the under-15 boys event.
Vikram Malhotra bagged a bronze for India in the boys’ under-19 category after winning the third-fourth place playoff.
The other Indians finished in the following positions:
Girls u-15:
Sachika Balvani (4th), Saumya Karki (6th), Aparajitha Balamurugan (7th).
Boys u-15: Abhishek Pradhan (6th), Vivek Dinodia (17th)
Girls u-19: Anwesha Reddy (8th), Harita Omprakash (13th)
Boys u-19: Vikram Malhotra (3rd), Ravi Dixit (7th), Paramit Singh (11th) Karan Malik (15th).