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Ritwik Bhattacharya may not have done the hat-trick of PSA titles in New Zealand but at least he won two. And his ranking has come up from 91 to 76. And the good news is that he won't feel lonely in the circuit . Mumbai's Supreet Singh played in the two events in New Zealand. Saurav Ghoshal and Gaurav Nandrajog should be seen in the will play in the Malaysian and Australian events. Ritwik will go back to the drawing board in London to analyse and improve. At the last hurdle, Ritwik came up a cropper against Kashif Shuja, a Pakistani junior who has made New Zealand his home for the last two years.``It was pretty disappointing to lose after such a wonderful run,'' was the reaction of Ritwik, who lost 10-15 10-15 15-9 15-13 in the second round of the South Island squash championships in Christchurch. Ritwik, who had won two successive PSA tournaments (Whakatane and Auckland) was not able to produce the goods this time around. He had beaten Shuja, in the Royal Oak final, the previous week in Auckland. Talking about his opponent, Ritwik said:``Shuja was in round three of the world juniors in Cairo in 1997. He has beaten me a few times in the juniors events. He was as high as 46 in the world. Canada's Sabir Butt and Egyptian Amr Mansi have also been ranked quite high.’
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| Ritwik won 11 matches in a row before the defeat.``I may have risen to 75.' How was the experience overall:``It was good for my confidence. I am playing great squash and am hungry to play more events and bigger events and do the same.' Ritwik came back and won the big prize money event in Jaipur. He will be playing in higher status events in Spain and Qatar by September end in a bid to break into the top 50. | ||
Saurav
reaches final on debut in PSA circuit.
Saurav Ghoshal is following in the footsteps of Ritiwk Bhattacharya. He reached the final of the Country View Squash Open in Kuala Lumpur. Aussie Mike Corren beat him in the final. Ghoshal, 17, was making his professional debut on the PSA Tour. After qualifying, the youngster swept past 4th seed Marcus Yeap, 5th seed Timothy Arnold and then No2 seed Kenneth Low to take his unexpected place in the final.
Corren, ranked 49 in the world - more than 200 places above his opponent who is listed at the very bottom of the Dunlop PSA World Rankings - overcame a nervous start, in which he squeezed the opening game by a single point, before ultimately securing his 15-14 15-6 15-10 victory in 42 minutes. Originally from Adelaide, 29-year-old Corren is now based in the Malaysian capital and celebrating his 7th PSA Tour title in 11 final appearances. Another Indian, Gaurav Nandrajog reached the semis. So Ritwik won't be alone on the circuit.
Final:
Mike Corren (AUS) bt Saurav Ghosal (IND) 15-14, 15-6, 15-10
Semi-finals:
Mike Corren (AUS) bt Gaurav
Nandrajog (IND) 15-8, 15-4, 15-9
Saurav Ghosal (IND) bt Kenneth Low (MAS) 15-11, 6-15, 15-14, 17-16
Quarter-finals:
Mike Corren (AUS) bt
Ahmed Hamza (EGY) 15-10, 15-10, 15-5
Gaurav Nandrajog (IND) bt Kelvin Ho (MAS) 17-16, 17-14, 15-13
Saurav Ghosal (IND) bt Timothy Arnold (MAS) 15-4, 15-9, 15-6
Kenneth Low (MAS) bt Sherif Kamel (EGY) 16-17, 15-13, 5-15, 15-10, 15-13
Indian squash queen Mekhala Subedar with the booty she claimed at the Golcha Open in Jaipur. |
Final Results : Mens: |
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