Hong Kong dash India’s hopes

At the end of the match, India’s third-ranked Surbhi Misra slumped to the left corner of the court and wept consolably covering her face, it told the sad tale as second seeded India lost 1-2 to sixth seeded Hong Kong in the semifinal of the 13th Junior World Women’s squash team championship at the ICL Academy courts on Friday.

After Dipika Pallikal had given India a brisk start defeating Tsz Ling Liu 11-4 10-12 11-8 11-6 in 30 minutes, Anwesha Reddy and Surbhi Misra failed to get past their tenacious opponents as India were knocked out. Hong Kong will take on Egypt, who defeated the USA 2-1, in the final.

Surbhi showed glimpses of her gritty, fighting quality, which on Thursday propelled India into the semifinals, but faced a stiff challenge from a more fitter and consistent Ka Man Lee to lose 9-11 11-8 9-11 9-11 in a very closely contested match. Anwesha was up against a player much stronger than her and couldn’t make much headway before going down 10-12 6-11 8-11.

Indian coach Major S Manian took the defeat sportingly. “Ka Man Lee played the crunch points better against Surbhi, its okay you win some and lose some. Anwesha ran into a stronger opponent and we have to be content with the last four finish the highest that we have reached in this event so, as earlier too we had reached the semifinals in Cairo in 2003,” Manian told DNA.

“It is absolutely outstanding to enter the final. The girls didn’t do well in the individual championship, but as a team they have played better in every match, progressively showing a greater on-court performance. We lost to India in the Asian juniors earlier in the year and have now won. Beating Malaysia in the pool games was a crucial turning point for the girls. Tomorrow in the final, they will just go on to the court and enjoy every bit of their game as Egypt are a very strong team, remember six Egyptians girls had made the quarterfinals of the individual championship,” Hong Kong China coach Dick Lung said struggling to speak in a highly accented English.

Results: Semifinals: India lost to Hong Kong 1-2 (Dipika Pallikal bt Tsz Ling Liu 11-4 10-12 11-8 11-6; Anwesha Reddy lost to Tsz Wing Tong 10-12 6-11 8-11; Surbhi Misra lost to Ka Man Lee 9-11 11-8 9-11 9-11); Egypt bt USA 2-1 (Heba El Torky bt Oliva Blatchford 11-5 11-6 13-15 11-7; Nour El Sherbini lost to Amanda Sobhy 6-11 6-11 8-11; Nour El Tayeb bt Julie Cerullo 11-6 11-5 11-4)