Bright start by India in world team squash

Paderborn (Germany): India, seeded sixth, kicked off in style with an impressive 3-0 victory against Hungry in the World Men`s Team Squash championships on Sunday.

All the players, Sidharth Suchde, Saurav Ghosal and Mahesh Mangaonkar who made his senior debut won convincingly in straight games and warmed up nicely for the match against Kuwait on Monday. Earlier, the inauguration of the championship was marked by a spectacular ceremony that saw the arrival of the German, World Squash Federation and Paderborn Squash Club flags, dropped into the gardens of the famous Water Castle in Schloss Neuhaus by a parachute team.A record-equalling 32 nations are competing for the World Squash Federation title at the Ahorn-Sportpark in Paderborn, as the sport presents its first senior world championship since the IOC announcement that Squash is on the shortlist for Olympic inclusion in 2020. After the introduction of the chief guests including WSF President N. Ramachandran, Paderborn Burgermeister Heinz Paus and the President of the German Squash Federation Wolfgang Bauriedel, a local band Bahn-Orchester Altenbeken led the officiating referees and participating teams into the arena.The long procession was rounded off by hosts Germany, led by championship ambassador Simon Rosner, the German number one who hails from Paderborn. Ramachandran praised the hosts for the superbly-organised championship: "The WSF is mounting a bid to get the one slot available to a new sport in 2020 Olympic Games and we have invited IOC members to this superb presentation, where I am sure they will see squash in a new light." IANS