Hosts Indonesia took centre stage on the second day of Squash action in the Asian Games Team Championships with an historic Pool upset over sixth seeds China in the Women’s event at the Gelora Bung Karno Sports Complex in Jakarta.

10th seeds Indonesia, without any ranked players in their squad, were making their debut in the Games. After the home side’s number one Catur Yuliana lost to China’s Li Dongjin, her team-mates thrilled the partisan crowd by taking the next two matches to win Indonesia’s first ever tie in the event – second string Yeni Siti Rohmah beating Gu Jinyue 11-8, 15-13, 11-7 before third string Irma Maryani despatched Chinese opponent Duan Siyu11-5, 11-7, 12-10 to clinch victory.

Further action in Pool B saw the top two teams Hong Kong China and India both record a pair of wins – third seeds India defeating Thailand and Indonesia 3/0, and second seeds Hong Kong beating Iran and China, also 3/0

Hong Kong number one Annie Au, the left-hander making her third appearance in the team championships, was in action in both ties – first beating Iran’s top player Ghazal Sharafpour 11-1, 11-2, 11-5, then taking out China No.1 Li Dongjin 11-2, 11-7, 12-10 (both pictured above).

Hong Kong were also in action today in the men’s event. Favourites to win the title for the first time, Hong Kong beat Republic of Korea 3/0 in Pool A – second string Yip Tsz Fung clinching victory by beating Seung-Taek Lee (pictured above, right, with Yip) 11-6, 11-2, 11-2 after top string Max Lee had put the top seeds ahead.

In Pool B, second seeds India maintained their winning streak in the event – but were taken the full distance by Qatar, the sixth seeds. Underdogs Qatar went ahead when world No.28 Abdulla Al-Tamimi beat Harinder Pal Sandhu in straight games.

But team-mates Ramit Tandon and Mahesh Mangaonkar restored order for the defending champions – Tandon beating Syed Azlan Amjad (pictured below, right, with Tandon) 11-3, 11-5, 11-3 before Mangaonkar made sure of the 2/1 win by overcoming Qatari Abdulrahman Al-Malki 11-9, 11-6, 11-2.

Asian Games images courtesy of Aulia Dyan

Men’s 2nd qualifying rounds:
Pool A:
[1] HONG KONG CHINA bt [5] REPUBLIC OF KOREA 3/0
[4] PAKISTAN bt [9] PHILIPPINES 3/0
[8] JAPAN bt [12] NEPAL 3/0
Pool B:
[2] INDIA bt [6] QATAR 2/1
[3] MALAYSIA bt [10] INDONESIA 3/0
[7] SINGAPORE bt [11] THAILAND 3/0

Women’s 2nd qualifying rounds:
Pool A:
[1] MALAYSIA bt [5] REPUBLIC OF KOREA 3/0
[4] JAPAN bt [9] PAKISTAN 3/0
Pool B:
[2] HONG KONG CHINA bt [7] IRAN 3/0
[3] INDIA bt [11] THAILAND 3/0
[10] INDONESIA bt [6] CHINA 2/1
[2] HONG KONG CHINA bt [6] CHINA 3/0
[3] INDIA bt [10] INDONESIA 3/0
[7] IRAN bt [11] THAILAND 3/0

Detailes Results and more Asian Games Coverage

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