Joshna Chinappa enters second round of Hong Kong Open

Joshna Chinappa (left) in action at the Hong Kong Open on Wednesday (Image Courtesy: Hong Kong Open)

Indian squash queen Joshna Chinappa celebrated her rise into the top 15 of the world rankings by storming into the second round of the $150,000 Cathay Pacific Sun Hung Kai Financial Hong Kong Open 2015 on Wednesday. The World No. 13 took 25 minutes to get past qualifier Megan Craig of New Zealand, 11-8, 11-9, 11-6.

Joshna, who usurped Dipika Pallikal as the country’s No. 1 squash player in December, has come to this tournament with a rich vein of form. She registered one of the best wins of her career at her last event at the Qatar Classic when she toppled the World No. 1 Raneem El Welily in the opening round. That confidence-boosting win should stand her in good stead at this week’s Hong Kong Open.

She, however, has a tricky opponent in the next round. Joshna faces the former World No. 4 Joelle King who beat her in four games the last time they met at the 2015 Carol Weymuller Open semi-finals.

Earlier, Chinappa’s compatriot Dipika Pallikal recorded the fastest win of the day when she beat the 16-year-old Habiba Mohamed in just 19 minutes for a place in the second round.

On Thursday, all the three top stars of Indian squash – Saurav Ghosal, Joshna Chinappa and Dipika Pallikal – will be in action as they seek places in the quarter-finals.

About the author

Sudeshna is a veteran Indian Sports and International Tennis journalist as well as editor at Sportskeeda. She has an overall experience of over 10 years with top publications like The Bridge, Fox Sports Asia, and gained a keen interest in Indian sports since the 2002 Commonwealth and Asian Games when she was in school.

Sudeshna holds a Master's degree in Journalism and Mass Communication. She attends tournaments regularly and being a highly experienced journalist, she ensures she only contacts the correct people from her network for the most authentic information to be put in her articles.

Sudeshna’s favorite Indian athlete is PV Sindhu owing to her big-tournament performances. She also admires Tennis legend Rafael Nadal for his resilience and has witnessed the Spaniard in action at the French Open, due to which, Roland Garros is her all-time favorite Grand Slam tournament.

Neeraj Chopra’s gold medal win at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics made a lasting impact on Sudeshna. She has also interviewed him along with Badminton star Chirag Shetty and several other sports personalities. She has done on-ground reporting on multiple ITF tournaments along with the Premier Badminton League, Asian Boxing Championships and the Davis Cup.

When not using her skills and years of experience in crafting compelling content, Sudeshna likes to read, watch movies and travel.

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Edited by Staff Editor