HERALD MARITIME SERVICES
SQUASH OPEN 2004
 31^st July 2004, At Otters Club,  Bandra (W), MUMBAI

Click here for Results 2003  

At the Prize distribution function held at Otters Club from left to right:  Khalid A-H. Ansari (President, SRAM), Capt. Jamshed Appoo (Sponsor), Rushabh Vora (Winner, Boys U-19), Deepak Kochar (Winner, Men’s Over 40), Mahendra Agarwal (Founder Director, ISP), Chief Guest of the Function Jahangir Khan (Legendary Squash Player & World Squash Federation, President), Siddharth Suchde (Winner, Men’s Open), Vikram Malhotra (Winner, Boys U-15), 
Ashish Gupta (PRO, SRAM) & Noreena (PRO, ISP)

The 19-year-old Siddharth Suchde made a successful transition into the ranks of men when he out slugged top seed Ritwik Bhattacharya to lift the men's singles title in the country's richest squash event, the Rs 1 lakh prize money Herald Maritime Services Squash Open, which concluded at the Otters Club, here, on Saturday.

With Rs 1 lakh at stake for the winner and an antique trophy prized at a further Rs 50,000 there was much to play for and the talented Suchde came up with one of his best performances to beat the form favorite. In the process, Suchde also avenged the loss he had suffered just over a week ago to Bhattacharya  in the PSA event at Chennai. Suchde maintained a very tight length with his shots and also displayed impeccable control in the opening two games, helped in no little way by a sluggish Bhattacharya. Suchde won the first game 15-8 in 15 minutes and took the next at the same score, albeit playing five minutes more. 

 However, the loss of the two games seemed to have woken up the country's top ranked player, who then proved unstoppable as he came up with some brilliant shots to show up the Harvard teenager as a literal novice. Drawing him to the front of the court, Bhattacharya hit cracking winners time and again to take the next two games 15-8, 15-9 in a total of 30 minutes and level match scores.

It was then that the Harvard-based teenager, training under Satinder Bajwa, proved his mettle. Mixing his game between delectable drops and whiplash like shots down either walls, Suchde raced to a 6-1 lead and maintained it all through to run out a 15-4 winner, the match lasting a total of 80 minutes. Suchde won a whopping Rs 1 lakh gor his excellent show, while Bhattachrya had to be content with Rs 50,000. The boys under-19 and under-15 finals went as expected, with top seed Rushabh Vora and Vikram Malhotra, also ranked No 1 in the country in their respective age groups, winning quite comfortably.

While Vora dropped a game before getting the better of Mathur 15-7, 15-11, 9-15, 15-8, Malhotra was clinical in his 15-13, 15-6, 15-10 win over second seed Laxman Joshi. While Vora received the biggest paycheck of his fledgling career figuring Rs 75,000, Malhotra too was not disappointed as he took home Rs 25,000. 

The msn's over-40 fight, between two players from the cricket club of India went in favour of Deepak Kochar, who recovered from a first game loss against Chetan Ladiwala before prevailing 11-15, 15-11, 15-11, 15-11 and taking home the winner's purse of Rs 40,000. 

Following are the results (all finals);

Men's: 2-Siddharth Suchde bt 1-Ritwik Bhattacharya15-8, 15-8, 8-15, 9-15, 15-4.
Boys under-19: 1-Rushabh Vora bt 2-Manek Mathur 15-7, 15-11, 9-15, 15-8.
Boys under-15: 1-Vikram Malhotra bt 2-Laxman Joshi 15-13, 15-6, 15-10.
Men's over-40: Deepak Kochar bt Chetan Ladiwala 11-15, 15-11, 15-11, 15-11.

Semi finals:

Men's:
1-Ritwik Bhattacharya (Delhi) bt Sahil Vora 15-10, 15-7, 17-16
2-Siddharth Suchde bt Manish Chotrani 15-13, 15-12, 10-15, 15-5.
Boys u-19:
1-Rushabh Vora bt 4-Ritesh Sharma (Jindal) 15-8, 15-3, 8-15, 15-9
2-Manek Mathur bt Imran Khan (Dhampur) 15-9, 15-10, 7-15, 15-5.
Boys u-15:
1-Vikram Malhotra bt Nitin Chauhan 15-11, 15-2, 15-3
2-Laxman Joshi (Jindal) bt Naveen Jangra (Jindal) 15-13, 15-12, 15-6.
Men's Over-40:
Deepak kochar bt 1-Oniel Parmanik (Kolkatta) 15-7, 15-12, 15-12
Chetan Ladiwala bt 2-Rahul Kumar 13-15, 15-11, 9-15, 15-8, 15-12.

Quarter finals:

Men's:
1-Ritwik Bhattacharya (Delhi) bt Karan Bhatty 15-10, 15-6, 15-2
Sahil Vora (Mumbai) bt 4-Gaurav Nandrajog (Delhi) 15-7, 15-10, 15-13. 

Boys u-19:
1-Rushabh Vora bt Naresh Kumar (Dhampur)15-3, 15-13, 15-11
4-Ritesh Sharma (Jindal) bt Siddharth Samantray 15-7, 15-8, 12-15, 13-15, 17-16
2-Manek Mathur bt Dheeraj Nagpal 15-11, 13-15, 15-13,15-17, 15-11

Boys u-15:
1-Vikram Malhotra bt Rahul D'cunha 15-5,15-2, 15-3
Nitin Chauhan bt Paramjit Singh 15-8,15-8, 15-8
Naveen Jangra (Jindal) bt Mahesh Mangaonkar 15-6, 15-4, 15-10
2-Laxman Joshi (Jindal) bt Aditya Jagtap 10-15, 15-9, 15-9, 15-9.

Men's Over-40:
Rahul Kumar (Delhi) beat Tushar Mashtruwala 3-0

http://web.mid-day.com/sports/local/2004/july/88385.htm 

http://www.cybernoon.com/DisplayArticle.asp?section=fromthepress&subsection=
sports&xfile=July2004_sports_standard1949 

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/787047.cms 

http://www.hinduonnet.com/holnus/007200407230327.htm 

http://cities.expressindia.com/fullstory.php?newsid=90915

PRIZE MONEY

Ex-Officio Members

Dilip Dandekar        Vinay Bajaj        Rustom Dalal      Karan Bhatty

 Tournament Committee

Insp. Pradeep Sharma   Aashish Gupta   Sanjay Goyal    Karan Bhatty   Rakesh Solanki   Santosh More   Rajesh Sonawane  Vijay Whagela   Aadesh Gamre  Vijay Sonawane   Mahendra Agarwal

Tournament Co-ordinator  : Avinash Bhavnani    

SRAM Observer : Shiv Malhotra

Organised by Indian Squash Professionals

 Under the auspices of Squash Racquets Association of Maharashtra

Click here for more photographs of this tournament

55th Tournament Organised by ISP