India's No 1 junior squash player Dipika Pallikal has expressed her displeasure with the Squash Racquet Federation of India’s (SRFI) decision of not sending a girls’ team for the Asian Juniors championship to be held in Hong Kong from February 3-7. “It’s really upsetting, to say the least. We had a real chance of getting a medal,” the 16-year-old told The Indian Express from Mumbai.The Chennai girl though, will be taking part in the individual event along with the country’s second-best junior V Anwesha Reddy. But unlike Anwesha and the six-member boys’ team (four boys for the team event and two for the individual event), the SRFI will not be funding Dipika’s trip to Hong Kong. “They sent me a letter informing that I’ll have to bear my own expenses. That’s fine with me, at least they are allowing me to compete in the individual event. You never know with the SRFI. They didn’t send me to the Asian Games. So, before every tournament I just keep my fingers crossed,” Dipika added a touch sarcastically. The country’s No 2 woman player said the SRFI’s decision defied logic. “Given the fact that the Federation sent us (Anwesha, Surbhi Mishra, Shivangi Paranjpe and herself) to Taipei for the Asian Seniors last year where we finished sixth, I thought they would be sending us for the Juniors as well. We had a great chance to win in Hong Kong,” she rued. Commenting on the issue, national coach Cyrus Poncha said: “We still haven’t decided on the teams. We will be formally announcing the same next week.”Dipika, who no longer trains at the Chennai-based ICL Academy where Poncha is the chief coach, said her decision to shift base to Egypt has done wonders to her game. Playing in only her first U-17 tournament at the British Open last month, Dipika made the pre-quarter final stage. “I was happy with the way I played. My new coach (Md Hafiz, a former top-20 player in the world) was happy too. The U-17 circuit is far tougher than the U-15 level that I had been playing till now. I still have one more year in the U-17 category and I hope that my performance keeps improving,” she said. After the tournament in Mumbai, Dipika will be leaving for Egypt on February 16 for a month, before returning for her board exams. “After my exams, I plan to settle down in Egypt and travel for tournaments from there,” she said.
