The Hindu : Sport : Hard-fought win for Sourav-Joshna

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Dec 14, 2004

Sport

Sport

Hard-fought win for Sourav-Joshna

By S.R. Suryanarayan

Jamie Crombie comes up with a return as her teammate Latasha Khan and the Indian pair of Joshna Chinappa and Saurav Ghosal look on. — Photo: Vino John

CHENNAI, DEC. 13. The Indian pair of Sourav Ghosal and Joshna Chinappa lived up to the reputation as the top players of the country with a hard-fought win over the seeded U.S. pair of Jamie Crombie and Latasha Khan in five games in the mixed doubles of the second World doubles squash championship, which got underway at the TNSRA courts here on Monday.

On a day that witnessed prosaic contests, the late evening match did enough to light up the proceedings. There was speed, rallies and enough war of wits, which kept the small crowd glued to the action.

As expected, the livewire was Saurav, while Joshna, though occasionally caught in a quagmire of errors, did well to come out of the danger zone.

The Indians decided quite early that Latasha Khan is the weak link as against the experienced Crombie. Earlier in the day, Crombie, in the company of Preston Quick, shocked the second-seeded Mohammed Azlan Iskander and Ong Beng Hee of Malaysia in the men's doubles.

While the U.S. pair proved that experience in playing doubles was more important than being a pair of top singles players which the Malaysians were individually, then the Indians proved that theory wrong in the mixed doubles.

Uncertain start

It was an uncertain start for the Indians when serving for the first game at 8-7. A slip by Joshna was enough for the Americans to grab that game. Later, Joshna showed her ability to wriggle out with good drop shots and cleverly mixing the lobs to keep the rallies going.

The Indians rallied well with Saurav utilising every opportunity to get big points. But when things looked smooth for India it lost the fourth game.

However, the contest went to the wire. Saurav found the way, shot the winner, a clean boast to catch Crombie short of the ball by inches to clinch the match.

In the morning, Saurav and Ritwik Bhattacharya earned a walkover when their Singapore opponents failed to turn up. The same advantage awaited the top seeds, David Palmer and Anthony Ricketts from Australia.

The results: Men's doubles: Pool A: David Palmer and Anthony Ricketts (Aus) bt Paul Atkinson and Michael Tootill (SA) 9-5, 11-8, 9-4; Ritwik Bhattacharya and Sourav Ghosal (Ind) w/o Vivian Rahmanan and Mohd Rizal (Sing); David Palmer and Anthony Ricketts (Aus) w/o Vivian Rahmanan and Mohd Rizal (Sing).

Pool B: Wai Hang Wong and Roger Ngan (HK) bt Naishadh Lalwani and Rushabh Vora (Ind) 9-4, 9-7, 9-6; Jamie Crombie and Preston Quick (U.S.) bt Mohd. Azlan Iskander and Ong Beng Hee (Mal) 11-9, 5-9, 9-3, 9-6.

Pool C: Byron Davis and Cameron White (Aus) bt Vikas Jangra and Harinder Pal Singh (Ind) 9-3, 9-3, 9-7; Mansoor Zaman and Shahid Zaman (Pak) bt Raymond Arnold and S. Maniam (Mal) 9-6, 9-7, 9-2. Pool D: Dan Jenson and Cameron Pilley (Aus) bt Bala Murugan and A. Parthiban (Ind) 9-2, 9-4, 9-3; Safeerullah Khan and Farrukh Zaman (Pak) bt Gaurav Nandrajog and Niraj Shirgaokar (Ind) 9-7, 9-4, 11-10; Dan Jenson and Cameron (Aus) bt Safeerullah Khan and Farrukh Zaman (Pak) 11-8, 4-9, 11-8, 9-7.

Women's doubles: Pool A: Shelley Kitchen and Tamsyn Leevey (NZ) bt Kasey Brown and Melissa Martin (Aus) 11-10, 9-7, 6-9, 11-9; Natalie Grinham and Rachael Grinham (Aus) bt Louisa Hall and Latasha Khan (U.S.) 9-6, 9-1, 9-2. Natalie Grinham and Rachael Grinham (Aus) bt Shelley Kitchen and Tamsen Leevey (NZ) 9-4, 11-9, 11-8. Pool B: Louise Crome and Lara Petera (NZ) bt Tricia Chuah and Nicol David (Mal) 9-5, 9-7, 9-1; Diana Argyll and Angelique Clifton Parks (SA) bt Heidi Mather and Amelia Pittock (Aus) 7-9, 11-10, 11-9, 9-7.

Mixed doubles: Pool A: Lara Petera and Callum O'Brian (NZ) bt Anbgelique Clifton Parks and Michael Tootill (SA) 9-4, 9-0, 7-9, 9-4. Pool B: Joshna Chinappa and Saurav Ghosal (Ind) bt Latasha Khan and Jamie Crombie (U.S.) 9-11, 9-5, 9-6, 4-9, 9-5. Pool C: Dianne Desira and Cameron White (Aus) bt Louisa Hall and Preston Quick (U.S.) 9-6, 9-4, 9-2. Tricia Chuah and Mohd Azlan Iskander (Mal) bt Diana Argyll and Paul Atkinson (SA) 9-3, 8-11, 9-2, 9-1; Rebecca Chiu and Faheem Khan (HK) bt Nicol David and Ong Beng Hee (Mal) 9-5, 5-9, 4-9, 9-5, 9-3.

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