The Indian men’s squash team of Abhay Singh, Saurav Ghosal, and Mahesh Mangaonkar clinched the gold medal after beating Pakistan 2-1 in the final at the Asian Games on Saturday. In a tightly fought contest, the gold medal was decided in the last game of the last match of the tie between Abhay and Zaman Noor. The Indian won the match 3-2 (11-7, 9-11, 8-11, 11-9, 12-10) in the end to bring home the gold medal.
India vs Pakistan Final (As it Happened)
In the first match of the India vs Pakistan tie, Mahesh Mangaonkar went up against Nasir Iqbal and lost rather easily, 3-0 (11-8, 11-3, 11-2). The match ended in only 29 minutes to hand an early setback for the Indian team. He looked completely out of the match and was a bit rattled by the obstructions by his opponent.
In the second match, while chasing the tie, Saurav Ghosal, as expected, delivered the goods against Muhammad Asim Khan. The Indian won 3-0 (11-5, 11-1, 11-3), in a lop-sided encounter. Ghosal moved swiftly across the court and gave a clear indication, as to why he is one the best players in the world, still.
But the best was reserved for the last as Abhay Singh and Zaman played a marathon of a match. It went back and forth for the entire duration of 65 minutes, with not much to separate the two. In the end, as fate would have it, the Indian held his nerve to get the gold medal. After losing the third game, the youngster came back from 7-9 down in the fourth to take the game. The fifth was even a closer affair. At 9-8 Zaman was a little bit more in control, but Abhay came back into the match once again, to achieve the unthinkable.
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