Squash: India loses in playoff against Germany in WSF Men's World Team Championship

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India lost to Germany in 5th-8th place play-off with Saurav Ghosal and Harinder Pal Singh Sandhu losing out in matches that went the full distance at Men’s World Team Championship in Mulhouse, France.

8-time Indian National Champion Saurav Ghosal was first up on court against 6-time German Champion Simon Rosner. Saurav started off well, controlling World no.12 Simon and raced away with the first game on the back of some aggressive play. Saurav continued with his aggression throughout the match, taking chances, playing the volleys and drops. But Simon pounced on the slightest mistake from Saurav and racked up the points. In an intense battle where both players had chances to win, Simon won the second and third game while Saurav snatched the fourth, leaving the two to battle it out in the fifth and final game. Saurav played really well but could not stop Simon from getting in front of him, making it incredibly difficult to come up with decisive strokes. Simon picked off Saurav in the final game to win to 5 and take the first point for Germany.

Harinder Pal Sandhu was next on court against Raphael Kandra in a match India needed to win to keep their hopes alive. Harinder matched Raphael stroke for stroke and kept pace with the German all the way. But Raphael made the better choices when it came to the crunch, pocketing the first two games 11/9 14/12. Both played well below their best but Harinder Pal showed glimpses of his ability in taking the next two games in emphatic manner, leveling the match at 2/2. In the deciding game, Harinder and Raphael yielded no quarter and were locked in a fascinating duel of nerves. Rapahel had the last laugh winning the fifth game 14/12 and sealing Germany’s progress through 5th/6th place shoot-off against South Africa.

India will play Malaysia on Saturday after Malaysia were beaten by South Africa in the second play-off.

[6] GERMANY bt [8] INDIA 2/0

Simon Rosner bt Saurav Ghosal 3-11, 11-8, 10-12, 11-8, 11-7 (91m) Raphael Kandra bt Harinder Pal Sandhu 11-9, 14-12, 5-11, 3-11, 12-10 (84m)

History of India’s performance at the World Men’s:

1967 – 5th out of 6 teams

1971 – 7th out of 7 teams

1976 – 7th out of 10 teams

1979 – 7th out of 14 teams

1995 – 28th out of 32 teams

2005 – 11th out of 22 teams

2007 – 8th out of 29 teams

2009 – 18th out of 28 teams

2011 – 7th out of 32 teams

2013 – 7th or 8th out of 31 teams

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Edited by Staff Editor