Wroclaw (Poland), Jul 24 (IANS): India went down 0-3 to third seeded England in their Group C match of the World Junior Women's Team Championship squash, here Tuesday.
Nada Elkalaaway, who qualified for England after five years of residency, played as well as any of the youngsters from her native Egypt and demolished Lakshya Ragavendran 11-4, 11-2, 11-2, in the opening match.
Victoria Temple-Murray beat a fighting Harshit Kaur Jawanda 13-11, 11-9, 11-9, to wrap up the tie for England before Lucy Beecroft edged past Sachika Ingale 11-9, 14-12, 13-11, in the inconsequential third match.
After Raghavendran went down rather tamely in the first singles, Jawanda looked to get India back on even keel against World No. 88 Temple-Murray. Jawanda led 10-9 in the first and 7-5 in the second, but failed to take her chances and allowed the English girl to steal a two-game lead.
Jawanda was unable to get depth on her backhand and made a couple of unforced errors, finding the tin with her forehand drops on points that were there for the taking.
Despite the setbacks, Jawanda gave it her all, keeping Temple-Murray on her toes throughout the contest. Eventually, Jawanda fell short allowing her opponent to pocket the match and the tie for England.
Ingale and Beecroft put on a show for the spectactors in a match that was anything but a dead rubber. The two went for their shots and mixed some nice boasts and deft touches to play out a riveting contest. Beecroft held her nerve on crucial points and won three close games, with the last two going into extra points.
India take on Japan in the final league playing for a spot in the quarterfinals. Japan will be bolstered by the presence of their No. 1 player Risa Sugimoto who has just arrived for the event.
The results:
England beat India (Nada El Kalaaway beat Lakhya Ragavendran 11-4, 11-2, 11-2; Victoria Temple-Murray beat Harshit Kaur Jawanda 13-11, 11-9, 11-9; Lucy Beecroft beat Sachika Ingale 11-9, 14-12, 13-11.