The Asian Games squash event opened Monday afternoon with first round matches at the Yangsan College squash venue. The opening day marked the appearance of a talented group of juniors from India, all of whom performed commendably well on the day.

Sharon Wee sailed through the first round today. (photo © 2002, T. Nomura)

The opening match produced the match of the day, a superb contest between Qatar's Saoud Mohammed Al-Sulati and 16 year old Sauray Ghoshal of India. Al-Sulati built an 8-1 fifth game lead, and just held on to win 10-8 in the decider. He moves on to face #1 seed Ong Beng Hee of Malaysia in the second round tomorrow. The only other match on the men's side saw Korea's Kim Dong Woo win by walkover. Kim will face #2 Monsoor Zaman in the second tomorrow.

The bulk of the matches were held in the women's event on day one. There were no major upsets, as Malaysia's Sharon Wee, Hong Kong's Wai Ying Mak, Korea's Lee Hae Kyung, and Japan's Mami Nishio all produced straight set wins.

The two remaining women's matches saw a talented duo of Indian juniors come away victorious. Joshnna Chinappa fought hard from a game down to defeat Korean medal hopeful Park Eun Ok 3-1, in front of a standing room only gallery. Vaidehi Keesara added the second victory for India with a 3-1 win over Japan's Chinatsu Matsui.

Here are the complete results from day one at the games:

Men's Individual Competition
First Round:
Saoud Mohammed Al-Sulati (QAT) bt Saurav Shosal (IND) 3-9 9-6 1-9 9-6 10-8
Kim Dong Woo (KOR) bt Ali Rashid A M Al-Qashoti (QAT) by default

Women's Individual Competition
First Round:
Mak Wai Ying (HK) bt Yue Lai Wan Joannah (SIN)9-5 9-2 9-2
Vaidehi Keesara (IND) bt Chinatsu Matsui (JAP) 9-6 7-9 9-7 9-6
Lee Hai Kyung (KOR) bt Kushiani Savsdrika Dauvatfe 9-0 9-0 9-0
Sharon Wee (MAS) bt Tahani Nayaftara Dukubr 9-0 9-1 9-1
Joshna Chinappa (IND) bt Park Eun Ok (KOR) 3-9 9-7 10-8 9-2
Mami Nishio (JAP) bt Jiao Cheng (CHN) 9-0 9-0 9-0