Winning start by Indian teams at Asian Squash

Kuwait, May 2 (IANS) The Indian men's and women's teams began their campaign in the 16th Asian team squash championship on a strong note here Tuesday defeating Singapore and China, respectively.

The men's team comprising Saurav Ghosal (World No.25), Siddharth Suchde (45), Harinder Pal Singh Sandhu (92) and Mahesh Mangaonkar (144) have been given top billing ahead of Malaysia, Hong Kong and Pakistan.

India's best performance in the men's team championship was a silver medal in the inaugural tournament held in 1981.

The Indian women's team includes Dipika Pallikal (14), Joshna Chinappa (53), Anaka Alankamony (94) and Aparajitha Balamurukan (92), and they are seeded third behind Hong Kong and Malaysia.

The women achieved their best result, also a silver medal at the last championship held in 2010 at Chennai.

The results:

Women - India beat China 3-0 (Anaka Alankmony bt Xiu Chen 11-6, 11-4, 11-4; Dipika Pallikal bt Li Dong Jin 11-3, 11-6, 11-4; Joshna Chinappa bt Gu Jin Yue 11-3, 11-4, 11-5).

Men - India beat Singapore 3-0 (Mahesh Mangaonkar bt Pang Ka Hoe 11-8, 11-2, 11-7; Siddharth Suchde bt Sameul Kang 11-4, 11-9, 11-8; Harinderpal Singh Sandhu bt Marcus Phua 11-2, 11-7, 11-7).