Asian doubles squash: Abhay-Velavan storm into final

India's Abhay Singh and Velavan Senthilkumar advanced to the men's doubles final of the Asian Doubles Squash Championships in Malaysia, keeping their title defence alive. Joshna Chinappa and Rathika Seelan, along with Joshna and Velavan in mixed doubles, secured bronze medals

New Delhi: India’s Abhay Singh and Velavan Senthilkumar stayed on course for their title defence after storming into the final of the third Asian Doubles Squash Championships in Sarawak, Malaysia on Saturday.

Abhay and Velavan defeated Japan’s Naoki Hayashi and Ren Makino 11-3 10-12 11-5 in the quarterfinals, before registering a 11-7 11-9 win over Malaysian third seeds Sanjay Jeeva and Duncan Lee in the semifinals.

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The Indian top seed will meet second-seeded Pakistan pair of Nasir Iqbal and Noor Zaman in the final on Sunday.

Women’s second seed Joshna Chinappa and Rathika Seelan lost to Malaysian top seeded pair of Ainaa Amani and Yee Xin Ying 9-11 7-11 in the semifinals.

In mixed doubles, second seeded combination of Joshna and Velavan, bronze medallist last year, went down to fifth seeded Malaysian pair of Ainaa Amani and Md Kamal 8-11 11-8 8-11.

Both pairs secured bronze medals.