The tensions hadn't really hit home when India's Mahesh Mangaonkar argued with the referee over points he thought were contentious in the opening set, Pakistan's Muhammad Asim Khan continued blocking of Saurav Ghosal's path during drop shots or when a frowning Noor Zaman glared at Abhay Singh after a collision left the former sprawled. These were just the after-splinters of an earlier skirmish.
The seeds, high-yield variety, for a grudge match had been sown three days ago when India had lost an ill-tempered group stage encounter 1-2 to Pakistan. Much before the two teams faced off in the men's team squash final on Saturday, there was a war of words between players of either side already buzzing on social media. And, in Abhay's own words, those were not friendly banter but jibes targeting the nationalities. It was India v Pakistan after all, an India v Pakistan of old, the ones we once relished, the sulphur of the gunpowder that you could smell in the air even before the first salvo was fired.
