Joshna advances to Asian Squash semis

India’s top-ranked women’s squash player Joshna Chinappa gave good account of herself as she stormed into the semifinals of the Asian Squash Championships after upsetting higher seed Malaysian Sharon Wee 9-5 4-9 9-7 9-5 just under an hour in Kuwait on Friday.

Reigning national champion kept the Indian hopes alive, as she is the lone Indian player in the women's section who remains in title contention, since the curtains had closed in the men’s section after the exit of Saurav Ghosal and Siddharth Suchde. Both of them crashed out in the quarterfinals of the ongoing Asian Squash Championships.

Joshna will now fight it out with second seed Rebecca Chiu of Hong Kong in the semifinals. Chiu had outclassed Malaysian Delia Arnold 9-7 9-4 9-1 in precisely 33 minutes in her last eight match.

Ghosal who was leading by one-game squandered the advantage and went down 10-8 4-9 1-9 3-9 to local favourite Abdullah Kh. Al Mezayen in a keenly contested match that went over an hour. On the other hand, the other Indian in the fray Suchde showed some resistance against second seed Ong Beng Hee before losing 2-9 3-9 10-8 2-9 in an hour-long contest.