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BRITISH JUNIOR OPEN SQUASH CHAMPIONSHIP (8/1/2004) Ghoshal gives 2004 a heady start By Pradeep Vijayakar |
Results Boys U-19 Finals : Saurav Ghosal (Ind) bt Mahmoud Adel El Said (Egy) 9/0, 9/6, 9/7 Semifinals : Saurav Ghosal (Ind) bt Laurence Delasaux (Eng) 9/5, 9/1, 10/8 Quarter Finals: Saurav Ghosal (Ind) bt Sherif Kamel (Egy) 9/2, 9/0, 9/7 Girls U19 Final: Omneya Abdel Kawy (Egy) bt Joshna Chinappa (Ind) 9/4, 9/0, 9/7 Semifinals: Joshna Chinappa (Ind) bt Amna Nazmy (Egy) 5/9, 5/9, 9/6, 9/6, 9/3 Quarters: Joshna Chinappa (Ind) bt Emma Beddoes (Eng) 3/9, 9/3, 10/9, 9/4 Girls U-13 Quarter Final : Nour Nasser (Egy) bt V. Anwesha Reddy (Ind) 9/6, 10/8, 7/9, 9/7 Salma Nassar (Egy) bt Dipika Pallikal (Ind) 9/6, 9/6, 6/9, 9/7 SCOTTISH
JUNIOR OPEN (2/1/2004)
Ramit, Siddharta and Dipika does India proud at Scottish Junior Open
Dipika Pallakal honoured by Dr. Jayalalitha, Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu England's Susie Pierrepont and Australia's Petra Hughes downed the top seeds in the Girl's Finals of the Scottish Junior Open Championships in Edinburgh. India's Dipika Pallikal, who defeated her compatriot Anwesk Reddy 4-9 0-9 9-6 9-5 9-3 in the Girl's Under-13 final, fulfilled a top seeding in the Scottish Junior event. Second seeded Sidditch Suchde, also of India, took the Boy's Under-19 title, beating Jose Angel Becerill of Mexico 10-8 9-4 9-2 in a 58 minute final, and second seeded Nicolas Muller of Switzerland defeated Chun Ming Au of Hong Kong 9-2 9-7 3-9 9-3 in the 33 minute Boy's Under-15 final. ResultsGirls
Under-19:[5/8] Susie Pierrepont (Eng) [1] Joshna Chinappa (Ind)
9-4 9-3 9-4 (27m) |
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Saurav Ghosal with the British Junior open 2004 Drysdale Cup |
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If people were wondering if 2004 would be as heady as 2003 when Indian sport won title after title in unexpected quarters, two teenagers have provided the answer. Kolkata lad Saurav Ghoshal has won the British Junior Open squash title. He thus emulates India's all-time great Anil Nayar, who won the Drysdale Cup, as it was known in the 60s when it was the unofficial world juniors championship. Today, of course, there is the World Juniors but the British title is equally prestigious and all the top juniors played at Sheffield. Saurav beat Egytpain Adel el Said who had ousted the top seed Khalid Atlas of Pakistan. Now Khalid is ranked 84 in world professional circuit whereas as Ghoshal only began playing Satellite events towards the end of last year. That's how unexpected his triumph has been. Joshna Chinappa had set the tone for Indians winning the British Junior Open title. She won the under-17 crown in January last year beating Aussie Donna Urquhart in the final and Egyptian Sara Badr in the semis. The under-19 crown narrowly eluded her as the Egyptian world junior No 1, Omneya Abdel Kawy beat her in the final. A few months ago Joshna was confident she would reach the final if she did not run into the Egyptian again. “The draw was such I met her in the last eight,” she said about her loss to Kawy at the World Juniors. Joshna was lucky the draw was kinder and she met Kawy only in the final. She is younger than the Egyptian so her time will come to be the No 1 among the under-19 girls in the world. Reacting to the two performances, Indian all-time great player Brig (retd.) Raj Manchanda, now a coach in the city, said “It's a great performance”. Saurav has been innovative, with more experience he can make a mark on the PSA circuit. As for Joshna she is strong and I am sure she wil be No 1 next year. The performances of the two are a feather in the cap of the India Cements Academy where they train under Maj. Maniam and Cyrus Poncha. They get the latest facilities and have made the most of them. |
