Chennai, June 13: Hosts India and top seed Egypt started their campaign on a winning note in the Squash World Cup here on Tuesday registering identical 4-0 wins overs Hong Kong 4-0 and Australia respectively.
The WSF Squash World Cup, which was last played in 2011, returned with a number of rule changes, including gender balanced teams of two men and two women and increasing the pace of matches by playing to seven points per game rather than 11.
India, seeded No.2 seeds, cheered by a boisterous crowd in front of the all glass back courts at the Express Avenue Mall, made the ideal start to their Pool B campaign with four wins out of four against Hong Kong, China.
Chennai’s Abhay Singh and Joshna Chinappa started strongly with straight-game victories over Chung Yat Long and Heylie Fung as the home side raced into a 2-0 lead.
Hong Kong, seeded No.8, briefly threatened to spoil the Indian party when To Yu Ling took the first game of his match against Saurav Ghosal, only for the Indian No.1-who became the first Indian squash player to win an individual medal at the CWG last summer when he won bronze in Birmingham – to respond with three convincing victories.
In a thrilling final match of the day, Tanvi Khanna fell behind 2-0 to Tse Lee Lam Toby before winning by a 3-2 margin.
In Pool A, pre-tournament favourites and defending champions Egypt showed their class humbling Australia 4-0. (UNI)
Follow our WhatsApp channel
