Kaohsiung (Chinese Taipei), July 22 (Inditop.com) India’s Saurav Ghosal, the No.8 seed, advanced to the men’s singles squash quarter-finals of the World Games defeating Frenchman Renan Lavigne 11-7, 11-3, 11-5 in 36 minutes here Wednesday.
Ghosal next meets Nick Matthew of Great Britain who strolled to a 11-4, 11-2, 11-4 win over Malaysia’s No.15 seed Mohd. Nafiizwan Adnan.
Meanwhile, in the women’s singles, top seed and World No.1 Nicol David of Malaysia beat India’s Joshna Chinnappa 11-2, 11-7, 11-3 and will meet Hong Kong’s Joey Chan who became the only unseeded player to claim a place in the quarter-finals after beating Australia’s Amelia Pittock in the second round.
In the earlier round, Joshna, the 22-year-old from Chennai, had upset Sharon Wee, the 15th seed from Malaysia, in the opening round.
Staged under the patronage of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), the 2009 Kaohsiung World Games is the eighth edition of the multi-sport event which features sports not currently on the programme of the Olympic Games – in which over 4,000 athletes are competing in more than 30 sports.
The day began with a simple yet elegant opening ceremony for Squash, which was held at the centre court. All participants marched in, accompanied by local girls in colourful dresses. Nicol David took the oath on behalf of the athletes and WSF (World Squash Federation) vice-president Heather Deayton declared the championships open.
rounak