PROSQUASH
Vol 15 No. 2 Issue No.
58 April 2011
ISP
- MINUTE MAID
SQUASH CARNIVAL 2011
In Association with Khar Gymkhana
and Juhu Vileparle Gymkhana
(12/02/2011)
MARWAN,
DELIA, MAHESH, SAUMYA EMERGE CHAMPS
The aggressive tactics and attacking play of second seed Marwan Shorbagy of Egypt prevailed over the defensive, consistent style of Malaysian top seed Kamran Khan in the men's open final of the Rs. 11 lakh prize money ISP Squash Carnival, the ISP's 100th tournament, jointly hosted by Khar Gymkhana and Juhu Gymkhana.
Shorbagy won 11-3, 11-8, 12-10 to bag the winner's purse of Rs 1.5 lakh which is the highest prize money ever in men's category in India. Earlier, the women's final was an anti-climax as top seed Delia Arnold of Malaysia packed too much firepower for her second seed countrymate Siti Munirah Jusoh, winning 11-2, 11-6, 11-9 without breaking too much of a sweat. Mahesh Mangaonkar and Saumya Karki, the top seeds in the boys and girls U-19 emerged easy winners in their categories while it was double delight for the Chotrani family. While former men's National champion Manish Chotrani won the men's over-35 title, his son Veer Chotrani laid claim to the boys under-11 title.
Marwan, who had impressed throughout the tournament with his aggressive play and penchant to go for winners, continued in the same vein in the final, catching Kamran Khan by surprise. The contest had hardly begun before the first game was over. Marwan kept going for his shots in the second game too and when Kamran tried to mirror his tactics he ended up finding the tin on more than a couple of occasions. The third game was a tight affair and Kamran saved two match points to level scores at 10-10. However, a backhand attempted winner that landed on the tin saw him lose the advantage and Marwan then caught him short on a forehand winner for the title. Delia Arnold, world no.20, after steamrolling her training partner Siti Munirah said she enjoyed the encounter but Muniraj was finding it difficult to move on court as she had not recovered from her long semi-final win.
The change in Egypt's leadership has brought more smiles to the young squash participant from Egypt Marwan El Shorbagy and as he said at the finals of the 100th squash tournament in Mumbai, he was happy to hear Hosni Mubarak was finally out of power. Later in the evening the Indian Squash Professionals (ISP), India's only NGO dedicated to promotion of a sports had its glittering grand finale of the seven-day Squash Carnival compered by TV actress Kavita Kaushik of F.I.R fame and the Comedy Circus and Laughter Challenge fame- Kapil Sharma.The awards in various categories were given to the winners by the beautiful actress Riya Sen (who specially flew down from New Delhi), Rati Agnihotri, who was herself a national Squash player and winner, among others. There was a book release also. Actress Divya Dutta encouraged the players in their final rounds by visiting the Khar Gymkhana earlier. While South Indian actor Harish and TV actor Abhishek Awasthi also graced the occasion as did singers Jimmy Felix, Sushmita Das and Shonaa Gonsalves, actress Priyanka Chopra's father Dr. Ashok Chopra, actor Aditya Raj Kapoor and Maharashtra Minister of Sports Padmakar Valvi. Fashoin show, dance, music, laser show, fire act and a lavish spread of foods in the open ambience made the proceedings more enjoyable. Above all it was a grand 3 hours entertainment with prize distribution which according to many players was a mini filmfare award type function the likes of which has never happened in any squash events in India.