Senior Squash Championship 2013: Saurav, Joshana retain titles

Top seeds Saurav Ghosal and Joshana Chinappa retain their titles.

Top seeds Saurav Ghosal and Joshana Chinappa registered impressive victories to retain the men’s and women’s titles, respectively, in the 38th Bombay Gymkhana Maharashtra State Open Senior Squash Championship.

While world No. 26 Chinappa overwhelmed surprise finalist and local lass Aishwarya Bhattacharya 11-1, 11-1, 11-3 in 25 minutes for a winner’s prize of Rs. 65,000, world No. 15 Ghosal prevailed over second seed Harinderpal Singh Sandhu 11-4, 11-6, 11-5 in a 40-minute contest for a winner’s prize of Rs. 1.3 lakh.

Ghosal, the only Indian to reach the quarter-finals in the recent World Championships in Leeds, England raced to a 2-0 lead to take early control of the match. It took Harinderpal by complete surprise, but the world No. 80, looking for his maiden win over his much accomplished rival, kept his hopes alive by surging to a significant 5-2 lead in the third set.

In his anxiety to enhance the lead and snatch the set without giving Ghosal time to recover, Harinderpal in the process committed a slew of unforced errors including hitting the tin on most occasions. It allowed Ghosal, playing with supreme confidence, an easy passage to reach match point at 10-5 and he snatched the set and match when Harinderpal hit the tin again.

“Harinderpal made too many errors. I put him under pressure and didn’t give him much space,” explained Ghosal. “That made it harder for him.”

“I tried my best from the first point,” said Harinderpal. “Saurav hit tighter shots which required an extra effort from me. I was more relaxed in the third when I took that lead but I was in a hurry to finish it off. In the process, to my disappointment, I hit the tin often.”

Third seed Rohit Kadam of CCI shocked top seed Sanjay Pawar of Otters Club 11-6, 11-8, 11-8 for the Professionals title.

Results (All finals):

Men’s Open: 1-Saurav Ghosal (Kol) bt 2-Harinderpal Singh Sandhu (TN) 11-4, 11-6, 11-5.

Women: 1-Joshana Chinappa (TN) bt 3-Aishwarya Bhattacharya 11-1, 11-1, 11-3.

Professionals: 3-Rohit Kadam (CCI) bt 1-Sanjay Pawar (Otters Club) 11-6, 11-8, 11-8.

Over-35: Rishad Pandole bt Karan Mirchandani 11-1, 11-4, 11-5.

Over-45: Ashish Kamat bt Darius Surti 11-3, 6-11, 9-11, 11-7, 11-3.

Over-55: Vaman Apte bt Kishan Lal 11-6, 11-8, 12-10.