Joshna Chinappa-Dipika Pallikal assure India of medal at World Doubles

In the women's doubles Joshna and Dipika, the second seeds came, back from a game down to beat the lower seeded Canadians Samantha and Nikole

Manchester: Joshna Chinappa and Dipika Pallikal have assured India of a medal by reaching the women's doubles semifinals at the WSF World Doubles Squash Championship. After the 2014 Commonwealth Games gold medallists won their quarterfinal Thursday night, there was double disappointment for India today when both the mixed doubles pairs, involving Joshna and Dipika, went down fighting in the quarterfinals.

In the women's doubles Joshna and Dipika, the second seeds came, back from a game down to beat the lower seeded Canadians Samantha Cornett and Nikole Todd 10-11, 11-6, 11-8. The focus will now be on them as they remain India's only hope in the competition. They take on the English duo of Jenny Duncalf and Alison Waters in the semifinals to be held later on Friday.

Their win followed a double blow on Friday when the pairs Saurav Ghosal and Dipika, and Vikram Malhotra and Joshna crashed out one after the other in the quarterfinals held concurrently on side by side courts. The pity was that both these pairs had the chance of emerging winners but lost out in the final stretch of the extended contests. Second seeds Saurav and Dipika were pitted against the top seeds, Paul Coll and Joelle King of New Zealand.

The contest was close from start and turned closer as it warmed up. After the pairs had traded a game each the Indians had edged ahead in the decider before slipping at the business end. Coll and King won 11-7, 10-11, 11-9. Similar was the fate of Joshna and Vikram against the Australia's David Palmer and Rachael Grinham. The Indians bagged the first game and gave a fair indication of being on song. But as the match wore on, the points ran close. The Australian pair inched ahead in the battle of rallies and as luck would have it Joshna and Vikram gave in. Palmer and Grinham won 8-11, 11-9, 11-9.