India and Hong both captured their first gold medals at the 4th Asian Beach Games through Harinder Pal Singh Sandhu & Liu Tsz Ling’s victories at the squash event in the games.
This inaugural event drew to a close with another capacity crowd witnessing the finals on the shores of the Andaman sea in the picturesque island of Phuket.
There were thrills during both finals in the 7 point; best of 3 games. In the women’s final, Liu ranked 2 spots below her team mate in the WSA ranking and the second seed here was steadier and clinched the crucial points to upset Tong.
In the men’s final, Harinder Pal Singh wold ranked 60 having an advantage of 23 spots higher than Yip Tsz Fung was in control in the first game, playing aggressive lengths and going to the front sporadically. In the second Sandhu was impatient and went short too soon and Yip who anticipated this capitalised with some awesome winning returns. Sandhu went back to a steady basic game displayin patience to clinch the game and title.
Victorious Harinder said “this is a superb tournament and am proud to win a gold medal for my country. It has been a memorable week, was honoured when I was selected by the IOA to carry the Indian flag at the opening ceremony and now I am going home with a gold medal. The setting-up of the squash court at the beach is special and I loved playing here.”
The final medal tally at the 4th Asian Beach Games squash event:
Men’s Individual Gold - India
Men’s Individual Silver - Hong Kong, China
Men’s Individual Bronze - India & Pakistan
Women’s Individual Gold - Hong Kong, China
Women’s Individual Silver - Hong Kong, China
Women’s Individual Bronze - India & China
We have had a fantastic week, despite the rain delay on day 1, the event has gone on superbly and I wish to thank WSF, OCA, ASF, ASB, all participants and big big thank you to our Competition Manager Akarin Hiranpruecks who has been a pillar of support during this event. The success of these games is proof that squash is truly a global sport and that it can be played anytime, anywhere!” Squash at the beach games are here to stay, said Technical Delegate Cyrus Poncha.
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