New Delhi [India]: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday congratulated the Indian men’s squash team on its spectacular gold medal victory at the 19th Asian Games.
With their fierce performance, the men’s squash team of Mahesh Mangaonkar, Saurav Ghosal, Harinder Sandhu and Abhay Singh clinched a gold medal after defeating Pakistan 2-1 in a high-intensity final.
With a sheer display of grit and resilience, India dug deep to wrap up the tie and clinch the gold medal, defeating Pakistan 2-1 in the best-of-three final contest.
“Congratulations to our Squash Men’s Team of the talented @SauravGhosal @abhaysinghk98 @sandhu_harinder and @maheshmangao on a spectacular victory at the Asian Games and bringing home the coveted Gold Medal. This effort will inspire so many young athletes to pursue sports and excel in it. India is delighted!” PM Narendra Modi tweeted on ‘X’, formerly known as Twitter.
Congratulations to our Squash Men's Team of the talented @SauravGhosal @abhaysinghk98 @sandhu_harinder and @maheshmangao on a spectacular victory at the Asian Games and bringing home the coveted Gold Medal. This effort will inspire so many young athletes to pursue sports and… pic.twitter.com/tEu9QcIgdu
— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) September 30, 2023
In the first match of the tie between arch-rivals, it was Pakistan’s Iqbal who started the game fiercely as he gave Pakistan a 1-0 lead in the tie.
In the second match, veteran Saurav Ghosal turned the tie in India’s favour as he won 11-5, 11-1, 11-3 against Muhammad Asim Khan.
Abhay Singh took a 4-point lead early in the decider match against Pakistan’s Noor Zaman. Abhay walked away with the first game of the all-important final match.
Abhay brought out his acrobatics, diving to reach a couple of shots. Noor Zaman showed off his understanding of the angles, making the most of side walls. Some more amazing athleticism from Abhay was not enough as Zaman levelled the final match at 1 game apiece.
In the fourth game of the match, an unforced error from Zaman brought Abhay right back into it. The 25-year-old gave India the game and took the decider into a decider.
In the decider game, Abhay showed off his understanding of the court and the angles involved to pick up a couple of quick points and go into the lead. The decider saw some fantastic shots, but in the end, it was a massive unforced error from Zaman, who hit the tin again, that gave Abhay the point.
Zaman had two gold medal points but Abhay Singh dug and he dug deep to get four points on the trot again and gave India a gold medal in the final.
It was India’s second-ever gold medal in squash at the Asian Games.
