The 29-year-old had returned to the PSA Tour in February
Ad
India No. 1 Saurav Ghosal’s British Open dreams met with a premature end as the World No. 19 was forced to concede his second round match to the 11th ranked Marwan Elshorbagy at the Airco Arena in Hull, England on Thursday. The Egyptian was leading 11-6, 11-6 when Saurav decided to throw in the towel after having played for 24 minutes.
The cause of his retirement was a twisted ankle that he injured during his first round clash with the eighth seed Mathieu Castagnet. The Indian national champion, known for his fighting spirit, still tried to give his all despite his obvious discomfort. But after discussing with his coach Malcolm Willstrop, a tearful Saurav had to call it quits.
Ad
Trending
The 29-year-old had returned to the PSA Tour in February after a stress fracture had kept him out for two months.
“I feel very sad for him,” said his opponent Elshorbagy, who now advances to the quarter-finals.
“He’s a great friend of mine. I’m sure he can come back very strong because he’s a very gifted player and he showed he came back from injury beside earlier this year,” added the 22-year-old whom Saurav beat in the final of last September’s Kolkata International.
Ad
The Indian himself later on expressed his bitter disappointment on his Twitter account.
With Ghosal’s exit, India’s campaign at this prestigious PSA World Series event gets over. Earlier on Monday, the highest-ranked Indian women’s player, Joshna Chinappa had bowed out in the first round, losing to unseeded Donna Urquhart, 10-12, 11-7, 9-11, 5-11.
Unfortunately I had to retire with an ankle injury I sustained in my 1st round match :( I don't have words to describe how bad I feel now!
Sudeshna is a veteran Indian Sports and International Tennis journalist as well as editor at Sportskeeda. She has an overall experience of over 10 years with top publications like The Bridge, Fox Sports Asia, and gained a keen interest in Indian sports since the 2002 Commonwealth and Asian Games when she was in school.
Sudeshna holds a Master's degree in Journalism and Mass Communication. She attends tournaments regularly and being a highly experienced journalist, she ensures she only contacts the correct people from her network for the most authentic information to be put in her articles.
Sudeshna’s favorite Indian athlete is PV Sindhu owing to her big-tournament performances. She also admires Tennis legend Rafael Nadal for his resilience and has witnessed the Spaniard in action at the French Open, due to which, Roland Garros is her all-time favorite Grand Slam tournament.
Neeraj Chopra’s gold medal win at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics made a lasting impact on Sudeshna. She has also interviewed him along with Badminton star Chirag Shetty and several other sports personalities. She has done on-ground reporting on multiple ITF tournaments along with the Premier Badminton League, Asian Boxing Championships and the Davis Cup.
When not using her skills and years of experience in crafting compelling content, Sudeshna likes to read, watch movies and travel.
Trending
