Coach confident of medal show at Doha, Pak tough rivals

Chennai, Dec 8 (UNI) Consultant coach Major S Maniam today expressed the confidence that India's squash team had bright chances of winning a medal in the ogoing Doha Asian Games despite strong challenge from Pakistan and Malaysia.

Major Maniam, who is a Consultant Coach with the Squash Rackets Federation India (SRFI) and the ICL Squash Academy here, said, before leaving for Doha to join the squad already there that Ritwik Bhattacharya and Sourav Ghosal will be compet in the men's event while the world junior runner up Joshna Chinappa would be the lone entry in the women's section.

I know it's difficult. But our players are better prepared to take on some of the best at the Doha Games,'' said

He said the Malaysian and Pakistani players would be the strong contenders at Doha. The Malaysians Mohammed Azlan Iskandar and Ong Beng Hee, the top seed and second seed, and Pakistan's Manzoor Zaman and Amir Atlas are the main rivals for our boys. Ritwik or Sourav could meet them in the semifinals,'' he said.

He said Joshna could face a stiff challenge in the women's section, where the current world no 1 Nicol David would also be a competitor.

Top seed Nicol and Rebecca Chieu are the main rivals for Joshna'', he said adding that Joshna may have to play her best squash to overcome these tough hurdles.

However, Joshnna, who left for Doha via Muscat along with her teammates sounded confident about her medal chances. ''I want to win at least one medal for my country. Hope I can pull it off,'' she said.

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