New Delhi: The Indian men's squash team got off to a good start at the Commonwealth Games with three players progressing to the second round on the opening day of the singles event at the Siri Fort Sports Complex here.
The trio of Saurav Ghosal, Harinder Pal Sandhu and Siddharth Suchde advanced to the round of 32 without much trouble.
However, it was curtains for world ranked 365 Sandeep Jangra, who went down fighting to 14th seed Australian Ryan Cuskelly, on court no 4.
In the first game of the day, world ranked 71 Siddharth Suchde made short work of Michael Hopkins from Jersey, registering a facile 11-6 11-5 11-4 victory over his unseeded opponent in just 18 minutes.
After an easy outing, where he dominated for a major part of the match, Suchde is now readying himself for a sterner test against formidable 7th seed Australian Cameron Pilley in the second round clash later this evening.
"I made good use of my footwork. I made Hopkins run all around the court. I was bit nervous initially as I just want to taste the water before unleashing my assault. We had never played each other," Suchde said after the match.
"Next clash is very tough as Pilley is really a tough nut to crack but I am ready for the challenge," he added.
In the second match, Jangra gave a glimpse of his fighting abilities against the 37th ranked Cuskelly.
Though the Indian lost 7-11 9-11 4-11 in 31 minutes, the famed Australian later admitted that he more than once lost his way against the never say die Jangra.
Jangra stretched Cuskelly to the limit but could not survive the late onslaught by the Australian. At one stage, Jangra was leading the second game 9-2 but lost his way and allowed Cuskelly to make a comeback.
The third game was no better as Jangra ran out of energy and caved in under pressure.
The day's next fixture saw India's number one racqueter Ghosal taking on unseeded Ugandian Ian Rukunya. Ghosal ran away with the first game (11-1) in just seven minutes, reducing the unseeded opponent to a mere spectator.
The script remained the same in the next two games as the 11th seeded Kolkata player used his speed to great effect to notch up a 11-1 11-4 11-0 win in 18 minutes.
"I am good at speed and that's what I displayed. I am preparing myself for the tough challenge ahead in the form of England's third seed Peter Barker. If I win my second round match against Scotland's Lyall Paterson, I will be up against Barker and that clash is going to be massive," Ghosal said after his match.
The last fixture of the afternoon, in which an Indian was involved, saw Harinder Pal Sandhu beat Bangladesh's unseeded Shopon Pervez. Sandhu was classy in his approach and execution of shots during his 11-3 11-1 11-2 win.
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