PALLIKAL TEAMS UP WITH GHOSAL, CHINAPPA FOR WORLD TITLES

GLASGOW: Less than six months after giving birth to twins, Dipika Pallikal made the mother of all comebacks on Saturday when she teamed up with brother-inlaw Saurav Ghosal and long time teammate Joshna Chinappa to win the mixed and women’s titles at the World Doubles Squash Championships here.

Dipika, playing her first competitive event since October 2018, first clinched the mixed doubles title with Ghosal with a 11-6, 11-8 win over England’s Adrian Waller and Alison Waters. An hour and half later, Dipika and Joshna triumphed in the women’s doubles final after a hard fought 11-9, 4-11, 11-8 win over England’s Sarah Jane Perry and Waters. In the year of Commonwealth and Asian Games, the tournament was a perfect preparation for the seasoned trio of Dipika, Joshna and Ghosal, who continue to bring laurels to the country even after more than 15 years of competing at the highest level. They are hoping their performance in here gets noticed and they are back in the government’s Target Olympic Podium Scheme (TOPS). They were included in the scheme four years ago ahead of CWG and Asiad but have not been added yet.

“Just happy to be back on court. I trained really hard (for the comeback). I was quite edgy at the start of the tournament but got better as I played more matches. It is a good preparation for us for CWG which is the main target. The competition is more or less the same (here and CWG). We know more about our opponents and we know where we need to improve,” the 30-year-old Dipika said. After giving birth to twins in October, Dipika had begun training in December at the ISA in Chennai with Joshna and Ghosal. “It is also a relief to be honest that I can still perform. Training is one thing but to be able to do that in a match is another. Never thought we would get this result in my first event in more than three years but so glad that we were able to tick all the boxes,” said Dipika.