Hangzhou (China): The Indian team comprising Abhay Singh and Saurav Ghosal clinched the gold medal in men's squash team in the ongoing Asian Games here by beating arch-rivals Pakistan with a score line of 2-1. The contest became an exciting one when the tie was levelled at 1-1 but Abhay Singh came to the rescue of the Indian side.
Mahesh Mangaonkar started the proceedings for India while squaring off against Nasir Iqbal but conceded the first set by a scoreline of 8-11. Mangaonkar committed several errors at the back end of the game and that played a part in the opponents' favour. The dominance by the Pakistani rival continued and he bagged the next two sets by 3-11 and 2-11 resulting in a loss for India.
Asian Games: India secures GOLD in men's squash team event; Beat arch-rivals Pak
Saurav Ghosal played next against Muhammad Asim Khan and paved the way for India's comeback. He won the first set by 11-5 and gave no opportunity to the opponent to make a comeback. Thus, the scoreline was 11-5,11-1 in quick time. Saurav also ensured that the third set will be in his favour and emerged victorious by a scoreline of 11-5,11-1,11-3. As a result, the tie was levelled at 1-1.
Abhay Singh was the next to feature for India and he scripted a victory in the first game of the third contest by 11-7. However, his opponent, Noor Zaman bounced back in the second game with an 11-9 victory. Noor continued his momentum and won the third game as well with a score of 11- 7.
A see-saw battle between the two teams saw Abhay taking the fourth game by 11-9 and levelling the match with both players winning two sets each. The final set saw Abhay showing determination to ink a win and India clinched the gold medal in the men's squash team event.
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