Top seed Joshna Chinappa came back from behind to beat second seeded Toorpaki Wazir of Pakistan to clinch gold at the South Asian Games on Monday.

Star player Joshna Chinappa clinched the gold in women’s individual squash after beating Maria Toorpaki Wazir of Pakistan in a tense and ill-tempered summit clash to make up for India’s disappointment in the men’s event on Monday.

Top seed Chinappa, ranked 14th in the world, recovered from one set down to beat second seeded Wazir 10-12 11-7 11-9 11-7 at the brand new squash facility at the R G Baruah Sports Complex here.(Wrestlers make India proud at SAG)

With Chinappa’s gold, India has so far won three medals in squash with Sourav Ghosal and Harinder Pal Singh Sandhu having grabbed a bronze each after losing to their Pakistani opponents yesterday.
Chinappa, one of the few top Indian players to have opted to play in the SAG, thus gave some solace to the team management after men’s players failed to reach the final.

The women’s final match had all the drama which was witnessed during the men’s semifinals with Chinappa expressing unhappiness to the match officials with the “aggressive” play of Wazir who was seen as trying to be a bit physical with the top-ranked Indian.

Wazir, ranked 50th in the world, won the first set 12-10 after a neck-and-neck contest but she got injured midway in the second set at 7-7 as blood came out of her left eyebrow region after contact with Chinappa and play was stopped for a while to get her treated.

The Pakistani was immediately given first aid and she resumed play after a few minutes. It looked like the break gave Chinappa time to ponder on her game and the glamorous Indian started dominating the match from there on.

Wazir looked tentative just after coming from her injury break and Chinappa did not take much time to take the second set 11-7 and level scores at 1-1.

The third set saw Chinappa taking a 5-2 lead but Wazir came back with some superb shots to make it 6-6 and then 8-6. By then there was tension among the crowd at the stands, but a calm Chinappa just went about her job and brought the score to 9-9 and then 10-9 before taking the set.

In the fourth and final set, Wazir gave some fight initially but later frittered away as Chinappa won it 11-7 to give India the first gold in squash in this edition.

Chinappa later made it known that she was not happy with the way the referees handled the match and that she did not enjoy playing the match as her opponent was “very aggressive” and “not playing fair”.
“Wazir is a good player but she was very aggressive. Fortunately, I won the gold but I did not enjoy playing the final. I play in the professional circuit and there, these kind of things, likes lot of interference and blocking (by rival player) does not happen,” she said after the match.

“I tried to keep myself calm but I had to let them (match officials) know what was happening on the court. I cannot let things happening all the time,” said Chinappa, who argued with the referee on a couple of occasions.

“I am a kind of player who plays fair, without these interfering and blocking etc. Doing all these is not nice for the spectators and also for the game,” she added.

Asked if the referees should have handled the situation better, she said, “I don’t want to be in trouble again but I feel it is their job to control the match and stop all those things. They should have done better.”

source: http://www.indiatoday.intoday.in / IndiaToday.in / Home> News> Sports> Other Sports / PTI / Guwahati – February 08th, 2016

Ace quartermiler MR Poovamma and Asian champion shot putter Inderjeet Singh will spearhead a 68-member Indian athletics team at the 12th SAF Games to be held in Guwahati from February 5-16, Athletics Federation of India (AFI) said today.

Poovamma, who won gold in the women’s 4x400m relay at the 2014 Asian Games, and Inderjeet, a gold medallist at the Asian Athletics Championships in 2015, will be part of the Indian squad which also includes Olympian shot putter Omprakash Singh Karhana.

The Indian athletics team, comprising 36 men and 32 women, will compete in the track and field tournament of the SAF Games which is scheduled be held from February 9-12.

India topped the medal tally in athletics in the previous edition held at Dhaka in 2010, winning 29 medals overall, including 10 gold medals, 11 silver and 8 bronze. The Indian team is expected to face competition from Sri Lanka, which finished second in the medal tally in track and field in the 2010 Games.

This time, the athletics competition will witness 20 events in men and 17 in women respectively at the Indira Gandhi Athletics Stadium, Sarusajai Sports Complex, Guwahati.

AFI President and Olympian, Adille J Sumariwalla said: “The 12th SAF Games is special because it’s being hosted in Guwahati and we hope to notch up maximum number of medals at home.

Though the competition is being held at a time when our elite athletes are in the midst of their training for 2016 Olympics, we’ve tried to select the best possible team under the situation. The team is a good mix of experience and youth and we hope they will return with a rich haul of medals from the 2016 SAF Games.”

Meanwhile, the preparations are in full swing at the various National camps and a number of elite athletes who have qualified for Rio, are also expected to be part of the action at the SAF Games.

The National campers for quarter miles, 400m hurdles and 4x400m relays for both men and women under coach Yuri Ogorodnik returned from a 69-day training stint in Turkey and will reach Guwahati from their present camp in Thiruvananthapuram.

The leading long and triple jumpers in the country who are currently training under Romanian coach Bedros Bedrosian in Thiruvananthapuram are scheduled to participate first in the SAF Games and next at the Asian Indoor Championships to be held at Doha from February 19.

Asian champion Inderjeet Singh is scheduled to reach Guwahati directly from his training centre in the US. However, the organisers have not received enough entries to conduct the men’s hammer throw event, and therefore the event is uncertain till now.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> Sport> Other Sports / PTI / New Delhi – February 01st, 2016