Harinder Pal Sandhu falls at the final hurdle

Harinder Pal Sandhu

Against expectations, the higher seeded Harinder Pal Sandhu went down to England’s Declan James, the fourth seed in four games in the final of the $10,000 Christchuch International 2015, a PSA world tour event in New Zealand on Sunday. The England player, who was the runner up in the previous event in Palmeston North a few days ago, won 8-11, 12-10, 11-9, 11-6.

It was a case of the third seed Harinder being so near and yet so far away from the title in this 67 minute contest. It a contest of contrasting styles. Where the tall James was exquisite in his movements and pick ups, the Indian was double-quick on the court. When Harinder shot his way up grabbing the first game with his power-packed returns, then unforced errors began to sink him from there.

The Indian lost a close second and led 7-3 in the third and the score read 9-9 when he lost out, clipping the tin once and then getting a ‘no let’ on his good drive. The fight began to ebb out from there as the stronger James picked up his fifth career PSA title.