SRFI National Camp (5-10 May’14)

The SRFI national training camps was held at the ISA from 5-10 May 2014. A total of 38 juniors from around the country participated in the camp.

Saurav highest Indian Ever; Eight Indians ranked top 100

The top ranked Indians are:

PSA: Saurav Ghosal – 26; Siddharth Suchde – 81; Harinder Pal Sandhu – 94; Ritwik Bhattacharya – 139; Gaurav Nandrajog – 175; Naresh Kumar – 184; Ravi Dixit – 207; Ramit Tandon – 218; Abhishek Pradhan – 315; Sandeep Jangra – 342; Karan Malik – 354; Aditya Jagtap – 417; Vikas Jangra – 417.

WISPA: Joshna Chinppa – 28; Dipika  Pallikal – 40; Anaka Alankamony – 59; Aparajitha Balamurugan – 80; Anwesha Reddy – 88; Surbhi Misra – 104; Ankita Sharma – 169.

Asian squash teams

India booked a semi-final berth in the women’s team events by winning both their matches in the Asian squash championship. Joshna Chinappa, Dipika Pallikal and Anaka Alankamony, defeated Sri Lanka and Japan in Group B quite comfortably to advance to the semi-finals. Also progressing to the semis from Group B were Hong Kong who too won both their matches and face India to decide for the positions. Indian men’s team, comprising Saurav Ghosal, Harinderpal Singh Sandhu and Ritwik Bhattacharya, brushed aside Japan 3-0 in the men’s section and face China tomorrow.

Asian Seniors Quarter finals

Saurav and Dipika move into the semis.

Nicol David (MAS)[1] bt Song Sun Mi (KOR)[9/16] 11-4 11-7 11-7 (24m)
Dipika Pallikal (IND)[9/16] bt Misaki Kobayashi (JPN)[9/16] 12-10 11-8 11-6 (32m)
Rebecca Chiu (HKG)[2] bt Joshna Chinappa (IND)[5/8] 11-5 11-13 11-7 11-6 (39m)
Joey Chan (HKG)[5/8] bt Delia Arnold (MAS)[3/4] 11-4 11-4 11-6 (28m)

Azlan Iskandar (MAS)[1] bt Abdulla Almezayen (KUW)[9/16] 13-11 11-7 12-10 (50m)
Saurav Ghosal (IND)[3/4] bt Farhan Mehboob (PAK)[5/8]  11-7,11-1,11-6 (35m)
Aamir Atlas Khan (PAK)[3/4] bt Nafiizwan Adnan (MAS)[5/8] 12-10 11-8 11-5 (35m)
Yasir Ali Butt (PAK)[5/8] bt Ong Beng Hee (MAS)[2] 10-12 11-8 11-8 11-9 (60m)

Asian seniors Day 2 men

Men’s Last 16:
Ong Beng Hee (MAS)[2] bt Ritwik Bhattacharya (IND)[9/16] 11-7 11-8 11-6 (32m)
Yasir Ali Butt (PAK)[5/8] bt Harinderpal Singh (IND)[9/16] 8-11 11-7 11-6 11-7 (38m)
Nafiizwan Adnan (MAS)[5/8] bt Siddharth Suchde (IND)[9/16] 11-13 11-13 13-11 11-8 11-8 (106m)
Farhan Mehboob (PAK)[5/8] bt Ivan Yuen (MAS)[9/16] 9-11 11-6 11-8 11-8 (56m)
Abdulla Almezayen (KUW)[9/16] bt Max Lee (HKG)[5/8] 11-7 11-6 11-4 (27m)
Aamir Atlas Khan (PAK)[3/4] bt Dick Lau (HKG)[9/16] 11-5 11-6 12-10 (35m)
Saurav Ghosal (IND)[3/4] bt Waqar Mehboob (PAK)[9/16] 11-9 11-5 11-5 (36m)
M. Azlan Iskandar (MAS)[1] bt Anson Kwong (HKG)[9/16] 11-2 11-4 11-2 (25m)

Asian Senior Squash, Chennai Day 1

Malaysians Nicol David and Mohd. Azlan advanced a step closer to defending their titles at the Asian Senior Squash Championships with easy wins. The showstopper of the day was the pre-quarterfinal contest between Dipika Pallikal and Low Wee Wern wherein the local favourite came back from the dead to register a victory in five games over 65 minutes.

Dipika lost the first game 10-12 and trailed 4-9 in the second before she put a lid on her cack-handed ways. Drop-shots abounded from her racket thereafter and although Wern snatched the fourth game to tie the match, Dipika stepped on it after being locked at 8-8, taking the decider 11-8.

Saurav moves to No 27

Saurav moved up in the PSA world rankings to no 27. April PSA rankings are:
27 Saurav Ghosal
80 Siddharth Suchde
90 Harinder Pal Sandhu
113 Ritwik Bhattacharya
174 Gaurav Nandrajog
184 Naresh Kumar
201 Ravi Dixit
210 Ramit Tandon
307 Abhishek Pradhan
345 Karan Malik

Ritwik wins Indian challenger # 1

After losing to his national rival in two previous PSA Tour event finals on home soil in India, Ritwik Bhattacharya bravely fought back from two-games-to-one down to beat Indian compatriot Saurav Ghosal, the event favourite, to make it third time lucky in the climax of the inaugural Indian Challenger No1 an event supported by the Union Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports at the ICL Squash Academy in Chennai.

Saurav & Annie lift Chennai Open titles

Men’s final:
[1] Saurav Ghosal (IND) bt [2] Ritwik Bhattacharya (IND) 7-11, 11-7, 11-7, 11-6 (49min)

Women’s final:
[5] Dipika Pallikal (IND) bt [4] Annie Au (HKG) 9-3, 10-8, 10-8 (44min)

Saurav Ghosal claimed his 3rd PSA title defeating Ritwik Bhattacharya in four games. The match was an excellent display of rally finishing. Ritwik played a tight first game and this showed in his finishing the game in a quick 10 min 11-7. The second game set the tone for the rest of the match … unforced errors on Ritwik’s end allowed Saurav to level the match. The next couple of games saw Saurav gliding over the court and the ‘human rubber band’ was able to run down practically every ball to take control of the third game as well.

The 4th game saw Saurav with a runaway 5-1 lead, and though Ritwik played some excellent points, he wasn’t in a position to wrest the momentum away from Saurav. The match ended tamely though, with a stroke being awarded to Saurav to retain the Chennai Open crown won last year.

Dipika searching for her 1st WISPA tour title struggled at the onset with Annie’s drop – drive game. In the 2nd Dipika squandered her 8-0 lead going down to Annie 10-8. In the 3rd Annie played aggressive and ran to a 7-2 lead, Dipika fought hard and in 1 hand was serving for the game after winning 7 points to lead 8-7. In the final twist Annie won the 3rd game 10-8. A remarkable achievement however by Dipika to get to the final and Overall a great event for Indian Squash.