By IANS,
Karachi : Pakistan and India may have suspended bilateral sporting ties because of tense relations after November’s Mumbai terror attacks but their leading squash players are playing against each other on the international stage in neutral England.
According to results made available here Sunday, India’s top woman player Dipika Pallikal defeated Pakistan’s women’s champion Maria Toor Pakay in the third round of the British Junior Open squash tournament’s girls’ under-19 event in Sheffield Saturday night.
Pallikal, a British Under-17 champion in 2008, won the keenly-contested encounter 7-11, 11-9, 9-11, 11-5, 11-6 to reach the fourth round.
The highly-rated Indian girl is seeded third in the under-19 event and is one of the favourites for the prestigious title. Pallikal is currently ranked number 51 in the world squash rankings.
The Peshawar-based Maria is not ranked that high in the rankings but she has been Pakistan’s top squash players – both at the senior and junior levels – for the last couple of years.