There’s good news for Indian squash fans as the former 14-time national champion Joshna Chinappa has clawed her way back into the top 10 in the latest PSA rankings released on September 1. The 29-year-old climbed two places to match her career-best ranking of No. 10 that she previously achieved in July this year.
Joshna was the only Indian squash ace to win a round at the new season’s first World Series event in Hong Kong last month. That definitely helped her rise.
Pallikal maintains her 19th rank
But there was no change for Dipika Pallikal who maintains her ranking of 19th despite a promising start to her season. The 24-year-old, who won her second National Squash Championships title, reached two back-to-back finals on the PSA Tour at the Victorian Open and the Australian Open, winning the latter.
They were, however, all lower tier tournaments. At the $115,000 Hong Kong Open, she failed to win her first round in spite of pushing the World No. 6 Camille Serme to five games.
Both the girls are in action at the China Open this week.
The rankings also witnessed a rise for the Hong Kong champion Nouran Gohar of Egypt, who earned her fledgling career’s maiden World Series crown. The reigning world junior champion Gohar, still only 18, climbed to her career-best place of No. 4.
Ghosal drops out of top 20
There was a disappointment in the men’s rankings though with the 11-time national champion Saurav Ghosal dropping out of the top 20. The 30-year-old was out of action for more than two months since April due to an ankle injury.
His first PSA event was in Hong Kong end of August where he succumbed to a first-round defeat to the eventual champion Ramy Ashour. The new rankings reflect his period of inactivity as he plummeted four spots to 21st.
Saurav too is playing at the China Open this week as he tries to get back to his full strength.
Among the other Indians, Mahesh Mangaonkar is ranked No. 60, Vikram Malhotra is No. 73 while Nationals runner-up Harinderpal Sandhu is in the 79th place.
Ramy Ashour, meanwhile, made a massive jump of seven rungs to grab the No. 5 spot in the latest rankings. The former World No. 1, popularly called ‘The Artist’ came back from a hamstring injury to win his third Hong Kong Open title last week.
