Joshna helps India edge Japan to top group

Chennai: It was billed as a mouthwatering contest, and proved to be just that. The rapidly-rising World No. 18 Satomi Watanabe was expected to be the thorn in India’s flesh. Up against her was Chennai girl Joshna Chinappa, ranked 54 places below her but bearing many more years of experience. Eager to prove a point and backed by a buoyant crowd, a fired-up Joshna prevailed in a pulsating five-game encounter to draw India level with Japan and effectively put the hosts ahead by winning the trickiest match of the tie at the Express Avenue mall here on Thursday.Fellow veteran Saurav Ghosal sealed the deal by keeping his cool in another tense five-gamer to propel India to the top spot in Pool B and set up a semifinal with Malaysia in the Squash World Cup, powered by HCL, on Friday. It also meant that India avoided favourites Egypt in the semifinals, who topped Group A.In the second match of the tie, the talented Satomi came up with some sublime drives as well as drops from the backhand. But with the Japanese frequently deemed to be obstructing Joshna’s way, the World No. 72 Indian was awarded an inordinately high number of points all through the encounter. Joshna soaked in all the applause coming her way from a partisan crowd and played the big points better to emerge triumphant 2-7, 7-4, 3-7, 7-5, 7-5.An emotional Joshna later said: “Satomi has had some great results on Tour, so it is a relief to get through. It’s such a quick game. There’s no room for error, and both of us hit some great shots. It could have been anyone’s match.” The 36-year-old added that she thought Abhay would win his match and she would then get to play in a relaxed manner.“But it was just one of those days when I had to go and do the job,” she said. On how she motivated herself to pull through, Joshna said: “My natural game is aggressive. When I keep pumping myself up, I am more present in the rally. That gets me going.” In the next match, World No. 63 Ryunosuke Tsukue gave a strong account of himself against the far more accomplished Saurav. Ryunosuke matched Saurav stroke for stroke and exhibited some great retrieving to keep coming back in the game and force a deciding fifth game. Saurav, though, as is his wont, held his nerve and found the finishing shots when it mattered to win 7-6, 6-7, 7-4, 3-7, 7-5. With this, India confirmed their top spot in the group as they had amassed 16 points as against Japan’s 11 to pip them.Tanvi Khanna then came on and registered a comfortable victory in straight games to take the hosts' points tally to 17 and clinch the tie 3-1 for them. Earlier, World No. 62 Abhay Singh found the going tough against the 131-ranked Tomotaka Endo. The Japanese converted a number of his drops into winners with deft placement, and after snatching a close couple of games, ran away with the third to upset Abhay 7-6, 7-6, 7-2.Results: Pool A: Australia bt Colombia 4-0, Egypt bt Malaysia 3-1; Pool B: South Africa bt Hong Kong 3-1, India bt Japan 3-1.