Saurav wins 7th & Dipika 1st National Title (5-10 Dec’11)

Highest world ranked Indian star Dipika Palikal clinched her maiden national title defeating Anaka Alankamony 11-7, 8-11, 11-4, 11-7, while defending champion Saurav Ghosal came from behind to beat Harinder Pal Singh 8-11, 11-6, 11-3, 11-1 in the respective finals of the National Squash Championship.

The winners, it could be said hadeasy times on court though they were stretched a bit by their rivals.

In the first women’s final, Anaka gave good account of her game against a highly seeded world star but Dipika made short work in clinching the title. In the earlier years, Dipika’s try at the title were ended by Joshna Chinappa, who could not compete in this nationals due to injury problems. Anaka tried her best keep Dipika in check but the latter always wriggled out of the rival clutches to come up with some delectable shots for points.

The men’s final seem to be heading for a tight finish as both Saurav and Harinder were going neck to neck and it looked as though Harinder is not going to give away easily. Harinder clinched the first game withhis strategy to stay at back court and keeping the pace at high levels and then get his shots to success. However, Saurav, who has bundle of experience having been in the circuit for longer time meant business and kept Harinder at bay in the next three games.

Saurav’s decision to keep Harinder at bay by keeping the ball away from him worked wonders. Though Harinder, at times, tried to make good to deny Saurav the ground to play his shots from back court, the latter refused to give in and merely kept the volleys long and then went for his shots to upset Harinder.

M.Vijayakuar I.A.S, Member Secretary, Sports Development Corporation of Tamil Nadu and Srivastan Subramaniam , Secretary General SRFI gave away the prizes to the winners.

The results (finals):

Men: Saurav Ghosal (TN) bt Harinder Pal Sandhu (TN) 8-11, 11-6, 11-3, 11-1Women: Dipika Pallikal (TN) bt Anaka Alankamony (TN) 11-7, 8-11, 11-4, 11-7.Over 55: Major S. Maniam (TN) bt Col. L.K. Agnihotri (retd.) 11-8, 11-9, 15-13Over 50: Viney Singh (Kar) bt Vaman Apte (Mah) 11-5, 11-5, 11-5Over 45: Rohit Thanwani (Mah) bt Chetan Ladiwala (Mah) 11-6, 11-7, 12-10Over 40: Manish Chotrani (Mah) bt Mohanish Sawant (Mah) 11-6, 16-14, 13-11Professionals: A. Parthiban (TN) bt B. Balamurugan (TN) 11-8, 10-12, 11-6, 11-8Over 35: Vikas Nayar (Chd) bt Cyrus Poncha (TN) 12-14, 11-4, 9-11, 11-7, 11-5.

Semifinals :Men:Harinder Pal Sandhu (TN) bt Siddharth Suchde (Mah) 11-5, 11-8, 12-10;Saurav Ghosal (TN) bt Ravi Dixit (TN) 11-4, 11-7, 11-6.

Women:Dipika Pallikal (TN) bt Ankita Sharma (Mah) 11-2, 11-6, 11-5;Anaka Alankamony (TN) bt Aparajitha Balamurukan (TN) 11-8, 11-4, 11-3.

Quarterfinals :Men: Ravi Dixit (TN) bt Mahesh Mangaonkar (Mah) 9-11, 11-5, 11-8, 11-8;Saurav Ghosal (TN) bt Karan Malik (TN) 11-4, 11-4, 11-2;Harinder Pal Sandhu (TN) bt Gaurav Nandrajog (Del) 11-6, 11-9, 11-3;Siddharth Suchde (Mah) bt Sandeep Jangra (Ser) 14-12, 11-7, 11-0.

Women: Dipika Pallikal (TN) bt Tanvi Khanna (Del) 11-2, 11-1, 11-3;Ankita Sharma (Mah) bt R. Lakshya (TN) 3-11, 11-8, 11-5, 11-3;Aparajitha Balamurukan (TN) bt Saai Meera (TN) 11-13, 11-4, 11-3, 11-2;Anaka Alankamony (TN) bt Mayuri (TN) 11-3, 11-0, 11-2.

Link of the draw given below

http://www.tournamentsoftware.com/sport/draws.aspx?id=27D9A043-7059-4982-A6B2-F89B97B5559F