Just days after leading India to a silver medal at the Asian Squash Team Championships, the country’s top two women stars – Joshna Chinappa and Dipika Pallikal – will turn their focus to the $25,000 MEML HKFC International 2016 to be held in Hong Kong from May 25.
Besides the two squash queens, the Sekisui Open winner Mahesh Mangaonkar is the only other Indian playing at this tournament. The Indian national champion Saurav Ghosal, who was a runner-up in 2015, was also supposed to participate and he was originally seeded second too. But his ongoing battle with his right foot forced him out as he continues his recovery process.
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Both the Indian girls have drawn qualifiers in their opening round matches. While the third seed Chinappa faces the 19-year-old Salma Hany Ibrahim of Egypt, the sixth-seeded Pallikal will battle it out with the former fifth-ranked Malaysian Low Wee Wern.
Also Read: Saurav Ghosal withdraws from HKFC International
For both Joshna and Dipika, this is their first PSA tournament since the World Championships in April, where the 14-time national champion Chinappa had reached the second round.
As for the 22-year-old Mangaonkar, he is coming into this event after a tight five-game loss in the first round of the $25, 000 Open de Paris earlier this month. He will kick off his challenge against the third seed Nafiizwan Adnan of Malaysia, who is ranked 25 places above the 58th ranked Indian.
The last time the two met was at the Premier League 6th Round in January this year and the Malaysian had emerged a winner in four games.
