It was almost as if this script was written with India in mind. And, perhaps it was.

In December 2006, India won a rare bronze medal for squash in the last Asian Games at Doha. But, in an equally rare circumstance and one that is peculiar, India knew they were assured of a bronze even before the quarterfinals began. With just two players of every nationality participating in the Games, it was strange (at the very least) how the two Indian seeded players were clubbed in the lower half of the draw, while the two Pakistani seeds — Mansoor Zaman and Aamir Atlas — came together in the upper half.How? Well, the quarterfinal draw saw Indians Ritwick Bhattacharya and Saurav Ghosal pitted against each other in the lower half. One of them would naturally go through to the semifinal and in the Asian Games, if you reach the last four, you are assured of at least a bronze.

Two things must be noted here. First, only two players per country are allowed. And if both reach the quarterfinal, then there are written guidelines that are generally followed. According to the Asian Squash Federation (ASF) rulebook for events like the Asian Games: “It is customary to ensure that wherever possible players of the same nationality do not meet each other in the first round and are preferably separated into the top and bottom halves of the draw.”

With just two players of every nationality participating in the Games, it was strange (at the very least) how the two Indian seeded players were clubbed in the lower half of the draw, while the two Pakistani seeds — Mansoor Zaman and Aamir Atlas — came together in the upper half. It also was extremely convenient (or lucky), that with players from 15 Asian countries, ranging from Jordan to the Philippines in a draw of 32, only Indian and Pakistani players were clubbed in the same sides.

Now who made the Asian Games draw and where?

On November 28, India’s national coach, Cyrus Poncha, announced the draw in Chennai in the presence of the ASF president and Squash Racquet Federation of India (SRFI) secretary, N Ramachandran. India’s national consultant coach S Maniam (also Ghoshal’s coach) set the seedings, while Fahim Gul (the Pakistani national coach) and Tony Choi of the Malaysian federation were the other members of the draw committee.