Sandhu storms into final

Valencia (Spain), Oct 27 – Indian qualifier Harinder Pal Sandhu extended his dream run when he defeated third seed Chris Ryder to reach the final of the PSA World Tour Challenger 15 squash event here.

The triumph marks the fifth, but biggest Tour final appearance of Sandhu’s career.

The 23-year-old from Chennai began his giant-killing charge in the qualifying finals where he overcame higher-ranked New Zealander Kashif Shuja to make the main draw against expectation.

Victory over England‘s Charles Sharpes saw Sandhu line up against top seed Adrian Grant in the quarterfinals but the Indian underdog despatched the World No.19 in a five-game thriller.

Ryder, ranked 43 in the world, provided Sandhu a hat-trick of English victims Friday. The Chandhigarh-born World No.98 recovered from a game down to beat 32-year-old Ryder 5-11, 11-4, 11-7, 11-9 after 80 minutes of intense squash.

For a change, Sandhu will now face an Egyptian, fourth seed Omar Abdel Aziz. The 29-year-old from Cairo, ranked 41 in the world, ended Danish interest in the event when he beat Kristian Frost Olesen 11-9, 11-6, 13-11 in 55 minutes.