Commonwealth Games: Joshna Chinappa loses in women’s singles quarterfinals; Sunayna Kuruvilla reaches plate semifinals-Sports News , Firstpost

File photo of Joshna Chinappa. Twitter/Sony Sports Network

India’s star squash player Joshna Chinappa lost out in the women’s quarterfinals to Canada’s Hollie Naughton in straight games 11-9, 11-5, 15-13 in Birmingham on Monday.

World No. 17 Chinappa had her chances in the match to win the opening game early as she led by a point. However, a strong showing by the Canadian World No. 20 saw the Indian lose three consecutive points to concede the first game. Making most of the momentum, Naughton took the second game in a jiffy 11-5 as the 35-year-old Indian struggled to match the agility and pace of the inferior-ranked southpaw on the day.

The third game turned out to be a close affair as the duo kept taking points off each other but Chinappa got herself in a good position by earning the first game ball. However, a relentless Naughton never gave up as the 27-year-old Canadian saved four game balls to final take the final game 15-13.

Following the loss, Chinappa admitted that she wasn’t able to be as good as her opponent on the day.

“Today she played better than me,” Chinappa told the official broadcasters. “It may look different from the outside but I was trying my best to win those points but today she did it better.”

Before signing off, the 18-time national champion said she is not thinking about the doubles matches yet, where she will partner Dipika Pallikal among gold medal favourites, and wants to reflect on her defeat in the singles first.

Earlier, India’s Sunayna Sana Kuruvilla defeated Sri Lanka’s Chanithma Sinaly in the plate quarter-finals of the women’s singles.
A 23-year-old from Kochi, Sunayna proved too strong for her opponent, winning 11-3 11-2 11-2 in just 12 minutes.
Sunayna will compete in the women’s singles plate semi-finals later tonight.

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