World Doubles Squash: Dipika Pallikal reaches women’s and mixed finals

Glasgow (Scotland) : India’s Dipika Pallikal reached the finals of the women’s and mixed doubles events at the World Doubles Squash Championships 2022 at the Scotstoun Leisure Centre, here.Pallikal and her women’s doubles partner Joshna Chinappa, former Commonwealth champions, entered the title decider without having to play a shot after New Zealand’s Joelle King and Amanda Landers-Murphy, the top seeds, pulled out on Saturday night, allowing the Indian pair a walkover.Dipika and Joshna, seeded third, will now face English second seeds Sarah-Jane Perry and Alison Waters for the women’s doubles gold medal.In the mixed doubles, Dipika Pallikal and Saurav Ghosal, World Doubles silver medallists from 2016, received a walkover after Wales’ Peter Creed and Emily Whitlock pulled out of their final Group B encounter.The points meant the Indian squash team topped its group and entered the quarterfinals.

Dipika and Saurav then toppled England’s Patrick Rooney and Georgina Kennedy 11-6, 11-7 in their final-eight clash before overcoming Wales’ Joel Makin and Tesni Evans 11-9, 11-5 in the semis.Fourth-seeded English pair Adrian Waller and Alison Waters will be the second-seeded Indian duo’s opponents in the mixed doubles final.Meanwhile, Vikram Malhotra and Joshna Chinappa, the other Indian mixed doubles pair in action, finished third in Group A and will be contesting against Mohammad Syafiq Kamal and Aifa Azman for a ninth-place finish.Asian Games bronze medallist Ramit Tandon and Vikram Malhotra, India’s only entry in men’s doubles, won their two matches and will vie for a 17th place finish against Wales’ Elliott Morris and Owain Taylor.The Indian pair had finished third in Group E of their division.