Aziz tames Sandhu in final

Valencia - Egypt’s Omar Abdel Aziz brought Harinder Pal Sandhu’s giant-killing run to an end when he defeated the Indian qualifier in the final of the PSA World Tour Challenger 15 squash event.

Fourth seed Aziz, runner-up in 2011, reached the final here Saturday without dropping a game and also without facing an opponent who was higher-ranked!

Meanwhile, Sandhu, the 23-year-old World No.98 from Chennai, defeated a succession of higher-ranked opponents even in the qualifying competition. His biggest scalp was top seed Adrian Grant, the World No.19 from England.

But the clash with 29-year-old Aziz was a match too far. The world No.41 from Cairo fought for 65 minutes, however, to keep Sandhu at bay, ultimately winning 11-8, 12-10, 11-8.

The triumph marks the fifth PSA Tour title of Abdel Aziz’s career, but his first since winning the first NSC Series event in Malaysia more than five years ago.