PROSQUASH
Vol 11 No. 4 Issue No.
44 October 2007
Chief Patron: Harshvardhan Patil (Minister, Govt of Maharashtra) // Founder Director: Mahendra Agarwal // Directors : Narendra Gour (I.R.S.) Navneet Soni (I.R.S.) //Executive Directors: Anil Diggikar (I.A.S), Bipin Bihari (I.P.S), Bharat Bhushan (I.R.S)// Honored Patrons: Vivek Nair (VC & M.D.The Leela), Sajjan Jindal (Chairman & M.D. JSW Steel Ltd), Eric Dastur (Chairman, K.M. Dastur Reinsurance Brokers Pvt. Ltd.) // President: Ashish Gupta // Vice President: Noreena // Joint Secretary: Vicky Kalludi // Treasurer: Ashok Nagpal // Executive Committee Mem.: Saifee Jani, Rakesh Lakhanpal, Madhukar Musle, Karan Mehra, Ajit Singh, Imroz Pathan // Advisor: Pradeep K. Vijayakar // Chief Executive: Vidhya Rao // Technical Director: Amitoj Inder Singh // Chief Co-ordinator: Riaz Mohammed
A DESERVING ARJUNA AWARDEE
|
The President, Smt. Pratibha Patil presenting the Arjuna Award -2006 for squash to Saurav Ghosal at a glittering function, in New Delhi on Aug 29, 2007. |
Sourav Ghosal winning the country's highest sporting
honour, the Arjuna Award, was the best thing that happened to squash. He got
it for winning a bronze medal for India for the first time ever at the 2006
Asian Games. It was a no mean achievement, given that Asia boasts of some of
the top players in the game. It was his medal that got squash promotion into
the priority list of the government. About the award Saurav said: “I knew
I had been nominated by the federation but I was not expecting to win it. It
has come as a welcome surprise for me and I am obviously thrilled to have
been given the honour. Hopefully it would inspire me for greater things”.
He became the first Indian to make the main draw of the British Open, 2007.
About his Asian medal he says: “I am proud of the fact that I could win
the country the first medal in squash”. Saurav lost to Malaysia's Ong Ben
Hee in the semifinal. The last time a squash player was awarded the Arjuna
was Misha Grewal who was the national champion from 1993 to 1996. Sourav's skills and maturity is remarkable for a 20-year old. He began playing at the age of nine thanks to the encouragement of father Prakash, who was a regular at the Calcutta Racquets Club. He made the ultimate sacrifice of moving from the comfort zone of Kolkata to Chennai where the ICL Squash Academy honed his talents.
His grandparents moved in
with him to Chennai to ensure some comfort which Indian kids need because of
their emotional family attachments. |
Saurav's first major title was the German Open (U-17)
in May 2002 and he won the Dutch Open two months later. However, the
crowning glory came at the British Open (U-19) title in 2004. he was the
first Indian boy to claim the title ever since its inception in 1980.
In 2007 he won his third National title in four years.
He says about the title win: “I was under a little pressure, considering
the fact that I was defending my title. But I relish such challenges. After
all, there is no fun without pressure”.
Coached by Malaysian ex-player Major Maniam and Cyrus
Poncha in Chennai, Saurav is now training with Malcolm Willstrop in Leeds.
Ghosal says he has improved his angular returns and forehands and is hitting
the ball harder. He is pursuing his graduation his Economics and Management.
CONTD......2