Chennai, Feb 15 (UNI) The two leading lights of Indian squash,
top seeds Saurav Ghosal and Joshna Chinappa, both from Tamil
Nadu, cornered glory, annexing the men's and women's titles
respectively, as the curtains came down on the77th Senior
National Squash Championship at the ISA courts here today.
It was a record title Number 13 for Ghosal and 18 for Joshna.
While Saurav hardly dropped any seat in breezing past second
seeded Abhishek Pradhan of Maharashtra 11-6, 11-5, 11-6 in
double quick time, Joshna lost the closely fought first game
8-11, but recovered well with all guns blazing to hand out a
8-11, 11-6, 11-4, 11-7 thrashing to Tanvi Khanna (seeded 3/4)
of Delhi.
Both Saurav and Joshna were record holders in their respective
section for the number of National titles won by them.
On Saturday they swelled it further, perhaps with a touch of comfort.
Although that statement would hurt Tanvi Khanna a trifle for if anything
she provided the true moments of expectations on the final day against
her famed opponent Joshna.
It was perhaps the hardest match for the top seed in the national circuit
for a long time and Joshna admitted that “Tanvi can be very good and
her pacy approach did make me work up a little.”
When the going goes tough, the tough gets going and it proved true in
case of Joshna, whose experience and wide repertoire of strokes came
to the fore when it mattered most.
Tanvi ran away with the first game after leading 5-0 at one stage.
It was neck and neck till 6-6 in the second, before Joshna switched
gears and changed her tactics by controlling the pace and added more
variety in her returns, catching the young Delhi lass on the wrong foot.
'Strokes' became frequent for Joshna to move up, not to mention the
winning drops and volleys. The winning path had been cleverly laid out
and the execution followed flawlessly.
Ghosal that way was spared the blushes for his opponent Abhishek's
skills lay only in prolonging rallies.
The senior Pro could not have asked for more in terms of getting a good
practice.
“Happy things went my way. A good session on the court and that helps
as I look forward to some tough challenges in the pro-circuit ahead,”
Ghosal said.
The results:
Final:
Men:
Saurav Ghosal TN bt Abhishek Pradhan MH, 11-6, 11-5, 11-6;
Women:
Joshana Chinappa TN bt Tanvi Khanna DL, 8-11, 11-6, 11-4, 11-7.
UNI GV 1900