A historic achievement for the Indian men’s squash team! The trio of Saurav Ghosal, Abhay Singh and Mahesh Mangaonkar clinched Gold after beating Pakistan 2-1 in a thriller at the Asian Games 2023.
It was a victory that will be remembered for a long time to come, especially since Abhay Singh saved two match points before he went on to clinch the tie and the gold medal for India in stunning fashion.
Things actually didn’t go to plan for India in the first match of the tie, where Mahesh Mangaonkar, who lost a fierce battle in the first game, didn’t really challenge Pakistan’s Nasir Iqbal in the next two, losing 0-3.
Veteran Saurav Ghoshal then produced the goods yet again for India. His one-sided 3-0 victory, which saw Pakistan’s Muhammad Asim Khan take just 9 points across 3 games, levelled the tie at 1-1.
The third match between Abhay Singh and Noor Zaman went right down to the wire, into the fifth game. With the score at 8-8, it was anybody’s game and when Noor Zaman took the next 2 points, it all seemed like a formality. But not for Abhay Singh, who first saved the 2 match points, before winning the next two to clinch a historic gold for Team India.
It was also India’s 10th Gold medal in Hangzhou and their second on day 7 of the Asian Games. Also, it was only India's second-ever Gold medal in squash at the Asian Games, with the first coming at the 2014 Asian Games.
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