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ICL-Chennai Open
2008
Saurav Ghosal keeps his nerve to take Chennai Open title CHENNAI: Saurav Ghosal played to his strengths and triumphed, while Dipika Pallikal failed to do that and lost to Annie Au of Hong Kong as the final day ended on a contrasting note for the two Indians in the ICL-Chennai Open here on Sunday. The PSA title clash was an all-Indian affair with Ritwik Bhattacharya being Ghosal’s opponent. The two had not faced each other in recent times but when they last met, Ghosal was the victor. It initially seemed that Ritwik was out for revenge, given the way he controlled the pace and trend of the exchanges. In particular, he displayed delicate touch when dealing with the ball at the forecourt, something that Ghosal failed to do. Wait and watch Ghosal is nowadays showing a tendency to wait and watch. Aggression has always been his first choice but he has now started to play according to the demands of the situation. Proof of that came when he roared back after dropping the first game. Suddenly, Ghosal was everywhere, dashing to the front for near impossible drop shots or racing back to almost crash on to the glass back for long returns. In short, Ritwik suddenly found the court too small for placements. He also started to make errors, either missing the wall for the tin or failing to reach the power-packed cross-court drives. Added to that, Ghosal began to thrive during the rallies. During this phase, his wristy efforts were a delight to watch. Taking a handy lead in each of the next three games, Ghosal grabbed the initiative, worked his way to glory and his third title in the PSA tour. Not consistent In the WISPA final, all Dipika needed to do was pick a leaf out of Ghosal’s book. Good friends off the court, Ghosal’s advice clearly failed to pep up the 16-year-old. Dipika has the game, drives the forehand shots well and her wristy deceptions often catch her opponents on the wrong foot. Annie also fell prey to that. However, consistency was the need of the hour and it was Annie who produced a steady display. Dipika’s front court efforts never inspired. She could still have made up for that with a clear strategy of exploiting Annie’s weak backhand. As it happened, Dipika twice failed despite showing touches of excellence. She led 8-0 in the second before losing 8-10 and then in the next trailed 2-6, was on game-ball at 8-7 to once again lose her way. For Annie, her first final of the season provided a memorable finish while Dipika had to be satisfied with her first entry into the final in her young WISPA career. The Secretary-General of SRFI, N. Ramachandran, gave away the prizes. The result (finals):
PSA: Saurav Ghosal (
Ind ) bt Ritwik Bhattacharya ( Ind ) 7-11, 11-7, 11-7, 11-6. Semifinals:
PSA:
WISPA:
Quarterfinals:
PSA:
WISPA:
Source: The Hindu : http://www.hindu.com/2008/07/07/stories/2008070760111900.htm
Ghosal, Au win in style
Her game has nothing fancy about it either. It’s pure workman like and she keeps playing shot after shot till her rival commits errors. Her Indian opponent Dipika Pallikal on the other hand is temperamental and more of a flair player. She plays amazing winners at times but like as the saying goes, you live by flair you perish by it. And that’s exactly what happened with Dipika going for her shots, making more errors than winners, gifting Au the title, losing 3-9 8-10 8-10. ICL
Chennai Open squash circuit II Anwar
Reda wins the ICL-Chennai Open CHENNAI: It was a moment of delight for 18-year old Mohd. Ali Anwar Reda of Egypt after he downed the top seed and former Indian national champion Ritwik Bhattacharya 2-11, 11-6, 11-5, 7-11, 11-6 to wins the ICL-Chennai Open circuit II event here on Saturday. On the eve of the final, Reda had confessed, “I had played him in Cairo last when he came for training and he beat me 3-2 then.” To that extent, it was a win that was doubly sweet for the Egyptian. This was the fifth PSA title win for this collegian, who like most other top Egyptian players, aims high — a top 30 finish by the year-end. Yet, it was a case of Bhattacharya flattering to deceive. Playing after a long lay off can be taxing but he had begun well, looked the player that he is with his customary style of power and precision play to start with in the final. “I myself was surprised at the way I was playing,” the Indian said of his start. But before long Reda had tightened his game and used his racket for the kind of magic that Bhattacharya found hard to handle. An indication of his growing stature was the way the Egyptian took in his stride not only the reverse in the first game but more importantly the referee’s calls on ‘lets’, some of which left him screaming in disbelief. Egged on by his countrymates, Reda concentrated, took control and made a wise choice of strokes. Confidence growing, Reda stepped up pace in the third, displayed anticipation that nullified Bhattacharya’s crosscourt strokes. In short, the contest became more about consistent strokeplay. The Indian slipped here, at times failing to even reach the ball on the backcourt. Still, he came back strongly in the fourth game putting Reda on the defensive. The Indian could not sustain that as the Egyptian raced away in the decider to complete the 56-minute tussle in his way. M.K. Jha, IG of Police, gave away the prizes. The result: Semifinals: Quarterfinals: Ritwik Bhattacharya (Ind) bt Mohd. Sayed
Mahmoud Aly (Egy) 12-10, 11-7, 7-11, 12-10;
5th
ICL Chennai Open Squash Championship 2007 Saurav wins Chennai Open in an anti-climatic finish Saurav won the ICL Chennai Open and announced:``I need to play in more tournaments and hihger-ranked players to achieve it. I need to come into the top 15,’’ said the No 42 ranked player. Saurav defeated an unfit Wai Hang Wong (Hong Kong) 11-3, 11-2, 11-3. It was an anti-climax as the Hong Kong player had impressed in the quarterfinal and semifinal. Top seed Ghosal was never stretched in the tournament and found some resistance early in the first game. But once the Kolkatan got into the groove with his crosscourts and drops, Wong found it difficult to match his rival. Wong, who suffered a hamstring pull during Friday's semifinal, gave up the fight in the second game and lost it 11-2. Saurav took a 7-0 lead as Wong remained a spectator in the third game. The second-seeded Wong managed to win a couple to make it 2-9, before the Indian reached 10-2. Saurav won the third 11-3 for his second PSA title in his appearances in four finals. ``I was expecting a much tougher fight from him. He was never in the grove today, '' said Saurav. ``I suffered a hamstring pull during the semis. I tried a lot of massage in the morning, but
could not recover fully. I did not want to simply come and shake hands with him and concede the
match.That's why I played, '' the 30-year-old Wong, ranked 97 in the world, said.
The bronze medal winner of the Doha Asian Games will now head for Egypt for $40,000 Heliopolis
Rotary Open squash event in July before returning to India for the senior national championships.
Saurav needed only 31 minutes to see off Egyptian Mohammed El Shorbagy 11-9, 12-10, 12-10 while
second seeded Wong staved off a stiff challenge from countrymate Dick Lau 7-11, 11-4, 11-9, 9-11, Saurav, who had recovered from fever, showed no signs of it even though the Egyptian fought neck and neck. He pocketed the first game 11-9. But the Kolkata lad, who is now studying at Leeds university, had to fight hard to subdue the Egyptian in the second game, which witnessed long rallies. Saurav managed to pocket the game 12-10. The Egyptian came back strongly to give close fight to Saurav in the third game also and saved two match points after leveling the scores at 10-10. But Saurav prevailed over his rival 12-10 to enter the final. In a see-saw battle, Lau easily won the first game 11-7, but Wong pocketed the second and third game comfortably 11-4, 11-9. Lau came up with fine display to win the third 11-9 to make 2-2. Wong was involved in arguing with the umpire for every point in the decided. Wong regained his composure to win it 11-6, in amcth which.lasted a littlr over one hour.Saurav Ghosal had beaten his academy mate Naresh Kumar 11-5, 5-11, 11-4, 11-6 in the last eight. Young Parth Sharma, who despite having won the first set, failed to sustain the performance and
went down to Dick Lau ( Hong Kong) who is currently ranked 117 in the world. Lau beat Sharma 5-11,
11-5, 11-4, 12-10 in 38 miutes. Gaurav Nandrajog, whose racquets skills impressed many but failed
to overcome Hang Wong of Hong Kong. Like Parth, Gaurav did take the first set but Wai Hong Wong Defending champion Ritwik Bhattacharya did not play because of his knee injury. The event had seven who are in the top 200. SRFI secretary genral N Ramachandran said: "We want to encourage every player through such championships for better prospects of the game globally." Final:
4th
ICL Chennai Open Squash Championship 2006 Finals : 3rd
ICL Chennai Open 2005 Finals: 2nd
ICL Chennai Open 2004 Final : |
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