Away from the glamour of the Rio Olympics 2016, India’s squash queen Dipika Pallikal is making her quiet progress half-way across the globe in Australia. The World No. 19 who is the top seed at the PSA $10, 000 Victorian Open, stormed into the final in Melbourne on Saturday.
The 24-year-old convincingly beat the 54th ranked Egyptian Nouran El Torky, 11-4, 11-4, 11-2 in just 24 minutes. This will be the 17th PSA final of Pallikal’s illustrious career.
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She will meet the second seed Millie Tomlinson of England in her quest for her first PSA title of the year.
The Englishwoman had a far tougher battle in the semis where she had to overcome a gritty fight from the sixth-seeded Egyptian Mayar Hany to emerge an 11-3, 12-10 3-11, 9-11, 11-7 winner. It remains to be seen how much energy she will have left on Sunday against a speedy player like Pallikal.
As for the Indian, she is currently in impeccable form and began the new season with a confidence-boosting win at the National Squash Championships where she beat Joshna Chinappa for her second Nationals crown.
Sandhu, Kumar out
The other Indians did not enjoy such a great fortune, though. Both the men in action – third seed Harinderpal Sandhu and eighth seed Kush Kumar – bowed out in the semi-finals.
The former national champion Sandhu fought hard in the third game but went down, 8-11, 4-11, 10-12 to the top seed Joe Lee of England. The match lasted a marathon 59 minutes.
20-year-old Kumar too had a tough opposition and he succumbed to a 5-11, 7-11, 5-11 defeat to the second seed Rex Hedrick of Australia in 45 minutes.
