Saurav Ghosal wins; Harinder Pal Sandhu exits World Championships

Saurav Ghosal (right) in action at the World Championships (image courtesy: World Squash Championships)

On a day of mixed fortunes for India, Saurav Ghosal won his first round match but Harinder Pal Sandhu lost at the $325k Men’s World Squash Championships in Bellevue, Washington on Sunday. While 16th seed Ghosal beat World No. 20 Ryan Cuskelly 7-11, 11-8, 11-7, 11-3, Sandhu went down fighting 5-11, 11-2, 4-11, 9-11 to the 25th ranked Nicolas Mueller.

Ghosal will face the former World No. 1 James Willstrop in the second round on Tuesday.

World No. 20 Ryan Cuskelly had been in great form coming into the world meet after having reached the semi-finals of the Qatar Classic. And he began the first round contest against Saurav Ghosal with oodles of confidence as he stormed through to take the first game 11-7.

But Ghosal’s experience came in handy as he ground his way out in the second game. The World No. 17 snatched the third game as well. In the fourth game, fatigue finally crept into the Australian’s legs and he faded away as the Indian star wrapped up the match in 62 minutes.

This also ends a two-match losing streak for the India No. 1 who had lost his last two tournaments in the first round.

“He is one of the toughest first round I could have had, I guess Ramy/Mazen is very hard as well, for both of them. But it’s out of our control, so we just try and keep our head down, and just deal with the cards we are given on the day,” Ghosal said after his win.

Harinder suffers loss

Earlier in the day, World No. 71 Harinder Pal Sandhu put up a brave fight against the much higher-ranked Nicolas Mueller but had to end up on the losing side. Sandhu, who is training with former World No. 1 David Palmer, showed many encouraging signs of an improved game even as his Swiss opponent grabbed the opening game 11-5.

With superb accuracy and a wonderful pace, the former Indian national champion levelled the contest at one game apiece. The Swiss once again jumped into the lead by claiming the third game as well. However, Sandhu, who is making his debut at the World Open this year, refused to wilt easily.

With some amazing defense, it was the Indian who had a slender lead of 9-7 in the fourth game but failed to close it out as Mueller came back to seize the game and the match in 55 minutes.