Ace Indian squash player Joshna Chinappa outwitted New Zealand’s Kaitlyn Watts 3-1 to progress to the women’s singles quarterfinals at the Commonwealth Games on Sunday.
#Squash Update 🚨
🇮🇳’s @joshnachinappa enters the QUARTERFINALS of WS after defeating 🇳🇿’s Kaitlyn Watts 3️⃣-1️⃣ (11-8, 9-11, 11-4, 11-6) in the Round of 16
She will next face 🇨🇦’s Naughton H. in the QF tomorrow, 1st Aug
Great going!!#Cheer4India #India4CWG2022 pic.twitter.com/DqBumi40q2
— SAI Media (@Media_SAI) July 31, 2022
The 18-time national champion kept her calm to recover from a mid-game slump to prevail 11-8 9-11 11-4 11-6 against Watts to set up a last-eight clash with Canada’s Hollie Naughton.
Naughton beat Malaysia’s Aifa Azman 3-0 in another match.
Looking for an elusive CWG gold medal, Chinappa was lagging 3-5 initially in the opening set but made it 8-8 before taking a 1-0 lead.
Watts, however, made a strong comeback in the second set as she zoomed to 5-1 and even though the Indian made it 9-9 at one stage, the Kiwi managed to gather the last two points to keep herself afloat.
Despite the reversal, Chinappa showed better nerves as she build up a 7-3 lead and quickly stepped ahead to make it 2-1.