Joshna, Ghosal keen to end CWG medal jinx

Hyderabad: The professional squash season has just ended but Indian stars Joshna Chinappa and Saurav Ghosal are in no mood to relax. The duo have already begun preparations for two marquee events next year — the Commonwealth Games (July 23 to August 3) and the Asian Games (September 19 to October 4).

For Chinappa, the Glasgow Commonwealth Games holds lot of significance as India’s campaign in New Delhi in 2010 had ended abruptly.

Back then, the doubles pair of Dipika Pallikal and Chinappa were seeded second but their hopes of a medal finish were jolted severely when Pallikal withdrew due to illness two days prior to the Games. Now, with her ranked 12th in the world and Chinappa having recovered fully post a career-threatening knee injury last year, the medal jinx at the CWG could finally be

broken. “I am really confident as I have beaten many medal contenders this year. We gel well on court. She has her strengths and I have mine. We have a good chance of winning a medal,” Chinappa said.

The 26-year-old from Chennai, who now trains in Mumbai and is currently taking part in the 38th Bombay Gymkhana Maharashtra state open senior championship, said she was disappointed at not reaching the semi-finals of the Hong Kong Open.

“I beat seventh ranked Natalie Grinham and the no. 15 from Denmark so it was really satisfying. It could have been better if I had reached the semi-finals,” she said.

Ranked 26th, the 12time national champion said her goal would now be to improve her ranking to get good draws.

World no. 15 Ghosal said he would like to continue his good form.

“I played in 13 PSA events this year and did pretty well and my ranking has gone up to 15.

Making the last eight at the Worlds was the high point of my season. I think it is a result of playing in the circuit for sometime now.” Ghosal added that squash in India was experiencing a golden period. “No one has gone as far as I did. Dipika and Joshna have done things that no other women players have done before. We also have Harinder Pal Sandhu and Mahesh Mangaonkar and we all have a few more years in the game,” he said.