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a career-high world No4 last month, is widely being
tipped as a future world number one back in his home country:
"I guess there was a lot at stake today - the PSA Masters title,
the world number one. It was a
lot to handle, and maybe I was thinking about it too much," admitted
the 29-year-okd from Sheffield. “I’ve learnt from this, and I’ll be keeping challenging for the number one spot. "But he was playing better squash than me today, that’s about it. I’m disappointed with my performance, my movement to the front was not good enough, and of course, all credit to Ramy, who was 80% responsible for it - his racquet skills, his movement, his shots. "But I still lost 20% of it, and that made the difference.”
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RESULTS Finals: Semi-finals: Quarter-finals: 2nd Round : 1st round : |
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PSA Masters an unforgettable squash feat The next best thing to happen to Mumbai after the
visits of Jahangir and Jansher Khan was the top 31 players of the world
descending in the metro for the $152,500 Punj Lloyd PSA Masters. The only
one missing was No 1 Karim Darwish but the feast of squash provided by the
other three Egyptians like Amr Shabana, Ramy Ashour and Mohamed El Shorbagy
made light of Darwish's absence. Ramy Ashour , the 2005 Herald Martime Open winner at
the Otters Club when he earned his Mumbai fans, added a cheque of more than
twice the Rs 4 lakh amount to his kitty. He received nearly $23,000 in the
event organised to a nicety by Ivy Sports of former India champ Ritwik
Bhattacharya and Raj Arora. A delighted Ramy said,``I knew it would be a tough
match.But I am happy with the way I have played here the whole week. Loser Nick said,``“It was a rubbish match. We both
played terribly but on big points he attacked better than me,” It was flair against efficiency both players are among
the fitter ones on the circuit Nick hadn't lost a game in the tournament and
there had to be a first time and it happened at the ouset of the final when
he lost 6-11. He recovered to win 11-9 the second, had his moments in the
third and fourth but couldn't go for the kill. The tournament began with No 1 seed Greg Gaultier crashing out to Englishman Daryl Selby. Day two saw Saurav Ghoshal write the proudest page in Indian squash beating No 15 Aussie Cameron Pilley. There was a grand battle royale between Shorbagy the junior world champ and No 7 England's James Willstrop who was the next casualty. One by one the seeds were being taken out so that the
last eight stage had six seeds left and the final was between No 3 and No 4. As used to happen when two Pakistanis would clash in
days past one would get to see the full range of squash shots. Nowadays,
with the warm conditions, the ball very hot, players are playing the
percentage game and a lot of shots are on the back burner like the attacking
serve, the kill from back the drop and boast from back, the overheads into
the nick, the tickle boast or the cork-screw serve. The basic game was what the English displayed. The flair came from the Egyptians. The fitness came from the Europeans and the Aussies. There were four-five world champs in the fray. What
counted was who was the better player on the day. A feature of the event that fortune didn't often favour the underdog or the one who needed the slice of luck. This fickleness came in the way of Saurav Ghoshal taking Amr Shabana to the decider, Peter Barker from taking the first game against Nick Mathew. What was important was that we saw the future of squash
in the form of Shorbagy who has often come in the way of our Saurav winning
the World Junior Crown. The Indian kids got to watch the way the champions
prepared, the way they warmed up the way they cooled down, the way they took
things in their stride, the way they gave points to their opponents which
had been awarded to them and above all the intensity of their approach. The
players who went for their shots had the better results. Of course there was the odd argument against the
referee's decision but it happened after the referees were a little tardy in
following the ball some sighting problems. Of course with the tin no longer there and being
lowered it is a hard call to see whether the ball was down for there is no
difference in sound which the old tin used to give us. In time electronic
devices will help the referee till then we will have to tolerate dissent. Of course the `lets' and obstructions will continue as
players feel the need to occupy the T and control the game. But if the
consistency is there from the referees then players take the cue and
conform. But on all accounts this PSA was a grand success from
the Ivy Sports manned by Raj Arora and Ritwik Bhattacharya. The national
federation didn't co-operate with the courts from Chennai not made available
and Ziad Al Turki had to send them all the way from from Saudi Arabia. There
were some clearances to be taken care of and prize money issues .However all
was well when it ended well. After a series of big events in Chennai and Kolkata
Mumbai had its place in the sun. Delhi will take over the baton for the Commonwealth
Games whose facility will no doubt be used by Punj Lloyd for their next
edition. But as the PSA chairman said, the momentum must be kept whether it
is Chennai or wherever. Ritwik and Raj have shown the way. Punj Lloyd followed suit. We had the Maharashtra sports minister Mr Suresh Shetty coming. We had Dilip Vengsarkar, Leander Peas and other VIPs to buck up the unsung Indian squash players. Let us hope Mumbai and Maharashtra will keep the squash flag flying as it was at the start of the 40's after which the Services took over. |
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