The PSA $15, 000 Qatar Circuit No. 3 2016 turned out to be a forgettable tournament for Indian squash players as World No. 91 Kush Kumar crashed out in the first round on Sunday. Earlier in the qualifying rounds, India’s Sandeep Ramachandran met with the same fate as he too went down in his first match.
Kush was facing the 70th ranked Dutch player Piedro Schweertman, seeded sixth at this event. The 19-year-old Indian started off well against his experienced rival and lost the opening game narrowly, 9-11. The second game too was closely-fought and once again experience reigned supreme as the 32-year-old Dutchman grabbed it 11-8.
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But it was the third game which dashed all hopes of a comeback for Kush as he could not inflict any damage and went on to lose the match, 9-11, 8-11, 1-11 in 32 minutes.
The teenager had started the year with a bang that saw him notching up a confidence-boosting upset win over the much-higher ranked Farhan Zaman to bring the South Asian Games gold medal to the Indian men’s team.
Meanwhile on Saturday, the Dubai-based Ramachandran’s run too ended in straight games as he succumbed to an 8-11, 6-11, 4-11 defeat to the World No. 109 Ammar Altamimi in 27 minutes.
