Saurav and Dipika emerge winners in varying style

Saurav Ghosal annexed his eleventh national title and Dipika Pallikal Karthik her second as the curtains came down on the 73rd Otters National Championship held at the Otters Club in Mumbai. Both the winners achieved their target in contrasting fashion with Dipika who was all poise and balance as compared to her famed rival Joshna Chinappa. Saurav was driven to his wits end by his best friend and team mate Harinder Pal Sandhu and won by the skin of his teeth. For long has the rivalry between Dipika and Joshna going rounds. The two had hardly met over the years and certainly not in a national arena. Thus there were high expectations of a cracking contest only it fizzled out to a tame affair. Part reason was Joshna's inability to translate her perceived superiority but a bigger point was Dipika's steady and calculated approach. So though Joshna shot ahead, she found too many hurdles enroute where Dipika stuck to the simple theory of playing accurate. On the other hand, Saurav after a draining encounter with Vikram Malhotra where he had to come back from a 1-2 game situation, it proved another herculean task against an inspired Harinder, who incidentally had won his maiden title two years ago in Mumbai. Harinder too looked charged up after a heart-stopping semi-final win over second seed Mahesh Mangonkar. Leading 2-1 against Saurav and displaying energy that looked ominous, Harinder appeared in the driver's seat. Saurav however managed to tie the scores and in the decider points went neck and neck and into extended points to make it an edge-of-seat affair before the seasoned pro proved no match is won or lost until the last point is settled. There were other winners too in the day in other categories and with increased prize money and modern technology in place what with live-streaming, this was a championship that has set the trend for the future. 

The results: (all final):  Click to watch full match video  
Men: Saurav Ghosal bt Harinder Pal Sandhu 11-7, 7-11, 3-11, 11-8, 14-12; Women: Dipika Karthik (Pallikal) bt Joshna Chinappa 4-11, 11-6, 11-2, 11-8; 
PRO Coach: Paramit Singh vs Deepak Mishra 3-2 (7-11, 11-7, 11-13, 11-9, 11-6)
MO35: Aditya Maheshwari bt Amitpal Kohli  11-7, 4-11, 16-14, 12-10
MO40: Manish Chotrani bt Dalip Tripathi 11-5, 12-14, 11-7, 11-7
MO45: Anil Bhagat bt Darius Surti 11-7, 11- 4, 11- 8
MO50: Lalit Advani bt Kavi Seth 2-11, 11-8, 11-6, 6-11, 11-9
MO55: Oneill Michail Pramanik bt Viney Singh 11-1 11-9 11-3 
MO60: Rajiv Reddy bt Lalit Kumar Agnihotri 11-5, 2-11, 11-8, 11-7

Sandeep makes the most of Australia tour 

The gulf-based Indian, Sandeep Ramachandran skipped the national championship and instead headed for Australia to play in a couple of PSA Tour events. As it turned out that proved fruitful straightaway as Tasmania Open in Davenport provided him his career best show till date with a semi-final finish. Beating two seeded players enroute, eight seeded Joel Luca (Australia) in the first round and second seeded Rhys Dowling (Australia) in the quarterfinal, Sandeep seemed in great touch. Though he lost to the third seed Ko Youngjo (Korea) in the semi-final it was not before putting up a stiff resistance. What was credit-worthy was that the Bahrain-born Sandeep had come through the qualifying phase to achieve this best outing. Proceeding to Adelaide from there for the South Australia Open, Sandeep again had the qualification phase to surmount. Doing that with remarkable ease, the buoyant Indian promised another ambitious performance. Downing third seed Thomas Calvert of Australia in the first round in what was a come-back from one game down situation, Sandeep indicated his mood. But the same tenor could not unsettle the seventh seed Mike Corren though the quarterfinal tussle went the full distance. The Australian led 2-0 and then saw the Indian restore parity before putting it across in the decider. Nonetheless it was an experienced that will do a world of good for Sandeep.

Referee Clinic, Otters Club

SRFI conducted a Referee Clinic on 12th July at the Otters Club in Mumbai. The clinic covered various topics including - Rules Refresher, Discussion on Interference (Rule - 8), Injury (Rule - 14), Conduct (Rule - 15), Discussion on equipment change, Ball change, Distraction, Ball hitting a player, Fallen objectElite player movement and refereeing, Referee and Marker calls refresher and 
Assessments Guidelines. 28 of India's referees attended this clinic. 

Yash Fadte finishes runner in Pioneer Cup

India's top junior Yash Fadte did himself proud by finishing runner up in the boys U-15 category in the Pioneer Cup 2016, a super series junior event organised by the German Squash Federation in Cologne. He was the only Indian player this year to reach this high. In the final, Fadte went down fighting to the top seed English player Jared Carter in five games after leading 2-1 at one stage. Carter won 12-10, 6-11, 9-11,11-7, 14-12. The country's number two ranked U-15 player, Fadte had a impressive run otherwise beating 5/8 seed Andre Igelbrink of Germany in the first round. Thereafter he got past Adam Jirousek (Cze) and Yassim Amir (USA) in the next two rounds. In the quarterfinal, the Indian brought down the second seed Miguel Mathis of Switzerland before sweeping aside the Egyptian challenger Ashraf Abdelnaby in the semi-final. As for the other Indians in the tournament, Abhay Singh lasted three rounds in the U-19 section, Rutwa Samant too went out in the third round in U-13 boys while the lone girl, Koel Shankar lasted just the first round in the U-17 category.

Watch matches of 73rd National Championship, Otters Club

Abhay Singh makes it to quarters in Dutch Open

Abhay Singh was the only India who made  some headway in the highly competitive settings at the Dutch Junior Open held in Rotterdam. Abay rose up to the quarterfinal stage before bowing out in the U-19 section. Seeded 33/70, Abhay first sent out the 5/8 seed Patrick O'Sullivan of Scotland 11-4, 11-5, 9-11,13-11. In his next round, he overwhelmed French lad Guillaume Ducos 11-4, 11-2, 11-4. Equally facile was his win over Isaac Rawcliffe of England 11-5, 11-9, 11-5 next to enter the quarterfinal. In the last eight, the Indian playing 3/4 seed Mohammad Al Sarraj of Jordan, retired with a hamstring injury trailing 2-11, 9-11, 5-8. Another Indian in this section, Suyash Surana (33/70) exited in the first round itself, losing to David Zeman (Cze), 9/12 seed, in straight games 11-4, 11-3, 11-2. There was little to cheer in the girls section too. The four who featured were in the U-17 category. Aradhana Kasturiraj seeded 33/59 could not go beyond the first round losing to American girl Jesse Brownell 11-8, 11-8, 11-1. Similar was the fate of Nikita Joshi. Seeded 33/59, she was ousted by Italian Petra Paunonen 11-2, 11-4, 11-5., Diya Moolani (33/59), losing to English girl Poppie Jaram (25/32) 11-4, 11-5, 11-4. 

NSCI Indian Classic to kick off tomorrow

Top Indian juniors and some foreign players have confirmed their participation in NSCI Indian Classic Junior Open Squash Championship to be held in Mumbai from July 19-24. Three girls from Hong Kong - Ka Wing Ho (under-19), Tin Yan Lau and Sin Yuk Chan (under-15) are to feature in the girls' draw, while Mohd Imrul Hasan and Mohd Rafiquzzanman, both from Bangladesh, would be in action in the men's under-23 event.
The championship, to be held at the National Sports Club of India’s courts in Worli, Mumbai is a SRFI 4-Star sanctioned and ASF Silver event. The qualifying rounds would commence on July 19 and the main draw is to start from July 21.

Birthday Wishes (3rd -18th July 2016)

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