India’s Dipika Pallikal Karthik and Harinder Pal Singh Sandhu celebrate after their win against Malaysia’s Mohammad Syafiq Bin Mohd Kamal and Aifa Binti Azman in the mixed doubles squash final at the 19th Asian Games in Hangzhou, China, on October 5, 2023.
| Photo Credit: AP
India’s Dipika Pallikal and Harinder Pal Singh Sandhu won the squash mixed doubles gold at the Asian Games after warding off a last minute challenge from their Malaysian opponents in the final here on Thursday.
The Indians eked out a 11-10 11-10 win over Aifa Binti Azman and Mohammad Syafiq Bin Mohd Kamal in 35 minutes. The medal is India’s 20th gold at the Asian Games.
Cruising to an easy win at one point, the Indians seemingly lost concentration, giving away easy points in the second game.
The Malaysian duo won seven consecutive points to rise from 3-9 to 10-9 before Harinder and Dipika raised their level to close out the match.
In likely her last hurrah at the continental showpiece, Dipika won two medals — a bronze in the women’s team event besides the mixed doubles gold.
The 32-year-old thus has a haul of six medals, including one gold and one silver and four bronze medals across four editions of the Asian Games.