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Ghosal, Dipika win National squash titles

Top seed Dipika Palikal on Saturday annexed the elusive women`s title while Saurav Ghosal retained the men`s crown in the Senior National Squash Championship.

Chennai: Top seed Dipika Palikal on Saturday annexed the elusive women`s title while Saurav Ghosal retained the men`s crown in the Senior National Squash Championship.
Dipika, the highest ranked Indian star, realised her over six-year long dream of winning a national title by defeating Anaka Alankamony 11-7 8-11 11-4 11-7 in the final. In the men`s summit clash, Ghosal ended the season with a superb 8-11 11-6 11-3 11-1 win over Harinder Pal Singh in 55 minutes. The national title was sweet for Dipika as it had been eluding her for long even though she had won several WISPA International titles, particularly in the recent past. In the last six years, Dipika`s efforts to lift the national title went in vain since she was unable to get past Joshna Chinappa, who did not compete this year due to injury. In Saturday`s match, Dipika was focussed on winning the title from the beginning. After winning the first game 11-7, Dipika surrendered the second to Anaka, who managed to score points at will sometimes with some brilliant replies. However, supremacy of Anaka, a Asian junior champion, was shortlived as Dipika played tightly and won the next three and the match in 31 minutes. In the men`s final, Harinder Pal Singh won the close first game, pulling away from Ghosal. Ghosal got the better start in the second and led 6-3 before pocketing the game 11-6. Then on, it was a one-way traffic in the next two games as Harinder scored only four points, including just one in the fourth game as Ghosal ran away with the title. PTI