India’s Dipika Pallikal Karthik and Saurav Ghosal won the mixed doubles bronze medal at the Commonwealth Games 2022 in Birmingham, UK on Sunday.
Dipika Pallikal Karthik and Saurav Ghosal defeated Australian duo Donna Lobban and Cameron Pilley 2-0 (11-8, 11-4) in the bronze medal match at the University of Birmingham Hockey & Squash Centre.
Up against the Aussie pair who had denied them the gold medal at Gold Coast 2018, Dipika Pallikal Karthik and Saurav Ghosal started with a lot of intent.
Dipika Pallikal was the early aggressor and took the attack to the Aussies while Saurav Ghosal, who is married to Dipika’s sister Diya, anchored the play.
Dipika Pallikal and Saurav Ghosal, who became the world mixed doubles champions earlier this year, raced to a 10-3 lead but the Aussies came back to save five game balls. The Indian squash players, however, saw it through to take the lead.
The second game saw the Indians play with equal intensity and decimated the Australian challenge with ease to win the medal match in straight games.
The loss means Indian squash players ended their campaign at Birmingham 2022 with two medals. Saurav Ghosal had earlier beaten home favourite James Willstrop for the bronze in men’s singles, which was India’s first-ever medal in the singles category at the Commonwealth Games.
