Mahesh Mangaonkar, Saurav Ghosal, and Abhay Singh of India’s men’s squash team defeated Pakistan 2-1 in a tense final of the ongoing 19th Asian Games on Saturday, winning the gold medal with a strong effort.
In the first match of the tie between arch-rivals, it was Pakistan’s Iqbal who started the game fiercely as he raced off to a 5-1 lead early on over Mahesh Mangaonkar.
Mangaonkar lost in straight games against Iqbal 8-11, 11-3, 11-2. After a competitive first game, in which Mangaonkar was 11-8, Nasir won the next two 11-3, 11-2 to give Pakistan a 1-0 lead in the tie.
In the second match, veteran player Saurav Ghosal turned the tie in India’s favour as he won 11-5, 11-1, 11-3 against Muhammad Asim Khan.
An unforced mistake by Zaman in the fourth game of the match allowed Abhay to quickly regain the lead. The 25-year-old handed India the victory and forced a decider.
Abhay used his knowledge of the court and the relevant angles in the decisive game to score a couple of early points and take the lead. In the end, Abhay won the point thanks to a major unforced error by Zaman, who once again nailed the target. The finale saw some spectacular shots.
Zaman had two gold medal points but Abhay Singh dug and he dug deep to get four points on the trot again and gave India a gold medal in the final.
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