Japan & Pakistan complete Asian Games team semi-final line-ups

The final Squash qualifying action in the Asian Games Team Championships in Indonesia saw the women’s team of Japan and the Pakistan men’s team complete the semi-finals line-up at the Gelora Bung Karno Sports Complex in Jakarta.

Fourth seeds Japan faced rivals Republic of Korea to decide the second position in the women’s Pool A – and a place in the last four knockout stage.

Honours were shared after the first two matches – Misaki Kobayashi winning for Japan before Ji-Hyun Lee levelled the tie for Korea. Teenager Satomi Watanabe (pictured above) clinched victory for the fourth seeds after defeating the Korean number one Yura Choi 11-7, 11-8, 12-10 – an emotional victory which put Japan into the semi-finals, with the certainty of a medal, for the first time.

It was in Pool A of the men’s event that fourth seeds Pakistan battled with Republic of Korea for the final place in the other semi-final line-up. The 2010 gold medallists achieved their goal in style – Asim Khan, Tayyab Aslam and Israr Ahmed all beating their Korean opposition to secure second place in the pool.

The key clash in Pool B saw No.2 seeds India and third seeds Malaysia – both of whom were already certain of semi-final berths – go head-to-head for top position in the pool. Underdogs Malaysia clinched victory after wins by Eain Yow Ng and Ivan Yuen, second and third strings, respectively – but Indian number one Saurav Ghosal restored pride in the team by winning the third match, defeating Nafiizwan Adnan (pictured below, right, with Ghosal) 11-5, 9-11, 11-8, 12-14, 11-7 in 58 minutes.

Meanwhile Indonesia‘s women’s team showed their promise by recording their third shock win in Pool B. Seeded 10, the hosts beat Thailand 3/0 to record a hugely-impressive third-place finish in the Pool in their maiden appearance in the event.

Men’s semi-final line-up:
[1] HONG KONG CHINA v [2] INDIA
[3] MALAYSIA v [4] PAKISTAN

Women’s semi-final line-up:
[1] MALAYSIA v [3] INDIA
[2] HONG KONG CHINA v [4] JAPAN