Chennai's big role in India's triumph at Asian squash

CHENNAI: Indian squash players made history in Kuwait on Saturday capturing the women's crown at the Asian Team Championships, while the men fell short by a whisker, losing in a close encounter to Pakistan in the final. But the two teams reaching thefinal of the championship was history in itself, with the women's victory beingthe icing on the cake, as no team from the country has ever won an Asian crown,the best being a third place finish by both the men and women in 2010.The unprecedented feat had its foundations laid right here in the city. The women's squad of Dipika Pallikal, Joshna Chinappa, Anaka Alankamony and Aparajitha Balamurukan and the men's team of Saurav Ghosal, Siddharth Suchde, Harinder Pal Sandhu and Mahesh Mangaonkar have done the country proud. But Chennai has a bigger reason to celebrate. Six of the eightplayers either hail from the city or train here. In fact, the entire women'steam is from Chennai, led by the country's top-ranked squash player Dipika.Former India No. 1 Joshna, junior Asian champion Anaka and upcoming talentAparajitha complete the quartet. They took baby steps in the sport at the IndianSquash Academy (ISA) here and train at the premier coaching centre when they arenot globetrotting, competing in the pro tour. They beat top seedsHong Kong in straight matches in the final, a considerable achievementconsidering that their opponents were all higher ranked players. Themen's loss to Pakistan was a shock as they were the top seeds in the tournament.But Both Suchde and Ghosal fought gallantly, losing to their opponents ingruelling five games. their second-place finish is no mean achievement and thelynchpins of the squad - India No. 1 Ghosal and No. 3 player Harinder honedtheir skills in the city, training under national coaches Cyrus Poncha and MajorManiam at the ISA, the breeding ground for champion squash players in thecountry. In fact, Mumbai-based Suchde and Mangaonkar also train at the ISA everynow and then, with most camps being held at the state-of-the-art facility.Coach Poncha, a proud man after his wards' victory, explained howISA and Chennai have played a big role in changing the face of Indian squash. "Icame to Chennai and joined the academy in 2001. And in 11 years, I have seen thesport of squash grow by leaps and bounds in the country," saidPoncha."The standards of our players have gone up too. In 2001, wewere ranked No. 15 in the world in the junior circuit while our senior playerswere not even in the top-50 in the world. Now we have three top-30 seniorplayers while our junior national team is ranked No. 4 in the world and we areAsian champs," he added.