Lee Ka Yi: India’s Joshna Chinappa and Velavan Senthilkumar cruised past the Philippines’ Jemyca Aribado and David Pelino 2-0 (11-3, 11-5) in the quarter-finals to reach the mixed doubles semifinal and assure India of at least a bronze medal at the Asian Games here on Friday.
Joshna Chinappa, who won her first Asian Games medal at Guangzhou 2010, is making her seventh consecutive appearance at the continental showpiece. She will be adding a sixth to her tally alongside Velavan Senthilkumar. They will face Hong Kong, China’s Lee Ka Yi and Tang Ming Hong in the semi-finals on Saturday.
The Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games carries an added significance, as the men’s and women’s singles champions will secure qualification spots for the LA 2028 Olympics, where squash will make its debut.
Indian squash players came into the 2026 Asian Games after a fruitful campaign at Hangzhou 2023, where India won five medals in squash, including two golds, one silver and two bronze.
The men’s team won gold, while India also topped the podium in the mixed doubles event. The country added a silver medal in men’s singles through Saurav Ghosal and bronze medals in the women’s team and mixed team competitions.
Anahat Singh was part of the bronze-medal-winning women’s and mixed teams at the previous Asian Games, while Joshna and Tanvi Khanna also featured in the women’s team event.
Harinder Pal Sandhu, a gold medal winner from the men’s team in Hangzhou, is the coach of the Indian squash team at Aichi-Nagoya 2026.
Meanwhile, in swimming, Rishabh Das qualified for the men’s 200m backstroke final after clocking 2:00.53 to finish fourth overall across the heats. Utkarsh Patil also advanced in ninth place with a time of 2:02.13.
Veteran Sajan Prakash also qualified for the men’s 200m butterfly final after clocking 2:00.94 to finish sixth overall in the heats.
Aneesh Sunil clocked 3:58.08, while Dhakshan Shashikumar finished with a time of 3:58.73. Only the top 10 swimmers qualified for the final.
Article Source: IANS
