Jakarta, Aug 31, 2018: Today’s final Squash qualifying action in the 2018 Asian Games Squash Team Championships in Indonesia saw the women’s team of Japan and the Pakistan men’s team complete the semi-finals line-up at the Gelora Bung Karno Sports Complex in Jakarta.
Fourth seeds Japan faced rivals Republic of Korea to decide the second position in the women’s Pool A – and a place in the last four knockout stage.
Teenager Satomi Watanabe (pictured above) clinched victory for the fourth seeds after defeating the Korean number one Yura Choi 11-7, 11-8, 12-10 – an emotional victory which put Japan into the semi-finals, with the certainty of a medal, for the first time.
It was in Pool A of the men’s event that fourth seeds Pakistan battled with Republic of Korea for the final place in the other semi-final line-up.
The 2010 gold medallists achieved their goal in style – Asim Khan, Tayyab Aslam and Israr Ahmed all beating their Korean opposition to secure second place in the pool.
The key clash in Pool B saw No.2 seeds India and third seeds Malaysia – both of whom were already certain of semi-final berths – go head-to-head for top position in the pool.
Underdogs Malaysia clinched victory after wins by Eain Yow Ng and Ivan Yuen, second and third strings, respectively – but Indian number one Saurav Ghosal restored pride in the team by winning the third match, defeating Nafiizwan Adnan (pictured below, right, with Ghosal) 11-5, 9-11, 11-8, 12-14, 11-7 in 58 minutes.
Seeded 10, the hosts beat Thailand 3/0 to record a hugely-impressive third-place finish in the Pool in their maiden appearance in the event.
2018 Asian Games Squash/Men’s semi-final line-up:
[1] HONG KONG CHINA v [2] INDIA
[3] MALAYSIA v [4] PAKISTAN
2018 Asian Games Squash/Women’s semi-final line-up:
[1] MALAYSIA v [3] INDIA
[2] HONG KONG CHINA v [4] JAPAN
RESULTS: 2018 Asian Games Squash Team Championships
2018 Asian Games Squash/Men’s 4th & final qualifying rounds:
Pool A:
[1] HONG KONG CHINA bt [12] NEPAL 3/0
Leo Au bt Amrit Magar 11-6, 11-3, 11-6 (17m)
Yip Tsz Fung bt Arhant Simha 11-5, 11-9, 11-6 (19m)
Henry Leung bt Rajendra Shakya 11-2, 11-5, 11-3 (15m)
[4] PAKISTAN bt [5] REPUBLIC OF KOREA 3/0
Asim Khan bt Ko Youngjo 11-8, 12-10, 10-12, 11-8 (42m)
Tayyab Aslam bt Seung-Taek Lee 11-1, 11-5, 11-8 (18m)
Israr Ahmed bt Nyeon-Ho Lee 11-5, 11-4, 11-8 (27m)
[8] JAPAN bt [9] PHILIPPINES 3/0
Ryunosuke Tsukue bt Robert Garcia 11-4, 11-8, 12-10 (32m)
Tomotaka Endo bt David Pelino 12-10, 11-7, 13-11 (37m)
Ryosei Kobayashi bt Reymark Begornia 11-4, 8-11, 11-7, 11-5 (34m)
Final positions: 1 Hong Kong China, 2 Pakistan, 3 Japan, 4 Republic of Korea, 5 Philippines, 6 Nepal
Pool B:
[3] MALAYSIA bt [2] INDIA 2/1
Nafiizwan Adnan lost to Saurav Ghosal 5-11, 11-9, 8-11, 14-12, 7-11 (58m)
Eain Yow Ng bt Harinder Pal Sandhu 7-11, 11-3, 8-11, 11-3, 11-3 (55m)
Ivan Yuen bt Ramit Tandon 11-8, 9-11, 12-10, 11-7 (50m)
[7] SINGAPORE bt [6] QATAR 2/1
Timothy Leong lost to Abdulla Al-Tamimi 9-11, 7-11, 8-11 (22m)
Samuel Kang bt Syed Azlan Amjad 17-15, 11-4, 11-1 (33m)
Benedict Chan bt Abdulrahman Al-Malki 11-2, 11-4, 11-4 (23m)
[10] INDONESIA bt [11] THAILAND 3/0
Agung Wilant bt Sun Phat 11-3, 11-7, 6-11, 11-5 (30m)
Muhammad Nur Tastaftyan bt Natthakit Jivasuwan 11-9, 11-8, 8-11, 11-7 (32m)
Satria Laksana bt Chattaporn Juntanayingyong 11-5, 11-5, 11-6 (20m)
Final positions: 1 Malaysia, 2 India, 3 Singapore, 4 Qatar, 5 Indonesia, 6 Thailand
Women’s 4th & final qualifying rounds:
Pool A:
[4] JAPAN bt [5] REPUBLIC OF KOREA 2/1
Satomi Watanabe bt Yura Choi 11-7, 11-8, 12-10 (35m)
Misaki Kobayashi bt Ahn Eun Tschan 12-10, 8-11, 11-5, 11-8 (33m)
Risa Sugimoto lost to Ji-Hyun Lee 12-10, 7-11, 5-11, 8-11 (38m)
[8] PHILIPPINES bt [9] PAKISTAN 2/1
Jemyca Aribado bt Faiza Zafar 11-6, 11-7, 11-6 (44m)
Yvonne Alyssa Dalida lost to Riffat Khan 11-8, 4-11, 11-7, 3-11, 11-13 (40m)
Regina Borromeo bt Amna Fayyaz 11-9, 11-8, 11-8 (23m)
Final positions: 1 Malaysia, 2 Japan, 3 Republic of Korea, 4 Philippines, 5 Pakistan
Pool B:
[2] HONG KONG CHINA bt [3] INDIA 2/1
Annie Au bt Joshna Chinappa 11-9, 11-6, 11-6 (28m)
Joey Chan bt Dipika Pallikal Karthik 6-11, 11-7, 11-5, 11-9 (37m)
Ho Tze-Lok lost to Sunayna Kuruvilla 11-5, 15-13, 6-11, 9-11, 12-14 (51m)
[6] CHINA bt [7] IRAN 2/1
Li Dongjin bt Ghazal Sharafpour 11-6, 11-6, 11-4 (24m)
Gu Jinyue bt Fereshteh Eghtedari 10-12, 6-11, 11-5, 11-7, 11-5 (48m)
He Xinru lost to Hadis Farzad 7-11, 6-11, 11-13 (20m)
[10] INDONESIA bt [11] THAILAND 3/0
Catur Yuliana bt Anantana Prasertratanakul 11-8, 11-7, 11-7 (25m)
Yeni Siti Rohmah bt Tuddaw Thamronglarb 11-1, 11-2, 11-2 (13m)
Irma Maryani bt Pranghatai Phongrattana 11-5, 11-6, 11-5 (18m)
Final positions: 1 Hong Kong China, 2 India, 3 Indonesia, 4 China, 5 Iran, 6 Thailand. —- Images Aulia Dyan
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