Pallikal out of World Jr squash, Indian challenge ends

Chennai: The Indian challenge at the 13th World Junior Squash championships ended on Saturday after top seed Deepika Pallikal was upset by Egyptian Nour El Tayeb 1-3 in the semi-final.

Pallikal went down to fifth seeded Nour 6-11, 11-8, 8-11, 7-11. Ranked 48 in the world, Pallikal lacked ideas and put up a rather disappointing performance against the 60th ranked Nour.Nour credited her first win over Pallikal to her national coach Adel. “Even I am surprised that everything worked my way. I was not sure that I could beat Dipika until the last point was won. I hope to play in the same manner tomorrow to win the title for me and my country,” Nour said. Pallikal’s coach Ahmed Mosen blamed the loss on the errors committed by the Indian. “Nour surprised everyone and herself. Today, Dipika could not get off from the base and was very error prone,” he said. In the first game, the Egyptian earned points with superior technical play. She went for a straight drive and then came up with winners from the corners of the glass walls. In fact, Nour made Pallikal a mere spectator with two superb cross court drops. The 16-year-old Nour, winner of the British Open in under-13 and under-15 and under-17 categories, did not give any room to he fancied Indian opponent. he second game went Pallikal’s way. From 4-4, the local favourite took the score to 9-7 with two winners – a slice and a forehand cross court smash – and closed the game with ease. he third game witnessed a close fight with the Egyptian moving ahead 8-4 before Pallikal caught up to make level the scores. But in the end, her continuous errors marred the day for the Indian. Bureau Report