The Hindu : Sport : Ritwik takes the honours

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Jun 26, 2005

Sport

Sport

Ritwik takes the honours

S.R. Suryanarayan

ONE FOR THE ALBUM: Ritwik Bhattacharya, who won the ICL Chennai Open. — Photo: V. Ganesan

CHENNAI: Experience helped Ritwik Bhattacharya defeat unseeded Siddharth Suchde and emerge a comfortable winner of the $6000 ICL-Chennai Open squash tournament here on Saturday.

The forty-one minute title-clash, ending in straight games, was a bit of an anticlimax considering the heroics that had marked Suchde's progress to the final. Besides he had beaten Ritwik once in a tournament final. All of which pointed to a rousing finale but right from the start when he trailed 1-6 in a jiffy, Ritwik's determination was more in focus than Suchde's. "I knew he liked to rally. I decided on pushing him back and test him in the front court,'' said Ritwik on his successful ploy while Suchde admitted, "the two earlier prolonged matches of mine left me very tired and I could not get going''.

Heavy toll

Where earlier he sprang from end to end to return shots apart from lunging to the forecourt for negotiating the drops, Suchde began targetting the tin quite early. The toil of being pushed behind and then forward for the lunge to meet drop volleys took heavy toll on the Harvard University lad's flexibility. The confident look quickly transformed to grimaces and once he even let out a shout of despair.

Known for his power-packed shots, Ritwik eschewed that for variations. The soft lobs and the delicate volleys to the area just above the tin paid good dividends. Suchde did force rallies at times and even fox Ritwik with an occasional angle-shot. But the lead and the control remained with Ritwik, who picked his fifth PSA title, the third this year. "I guess this win would push me close to the top 50 bracket in ranking'', said the winner, who at present is placed at 59.

The Secretary, State Human Rights Commission, D. Sarangi gave away the prizes.

Breach of rules

The Squash Rackets Federation of India has withdrawn sanction to the Herald Maritime Services championship starting in Mumbai on June 27 citing "breach of championship rules''

In a letter to the President of the Squash Rackets Association of Maharashtra, Ranjan Sanghi, the Secretary-General, N. Ramachandran reminded the organisers of the championship of SRFI's stipulation that "if foreign players are invited to participate in tournaments in India prior permission must be obtained from the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports.''

Besides, he said the Pakistan Squash Federation had informed SRFI that all entries from that country needed to be endorsed by the PSF.

The result (final): Ritwik Bhattacharya (Ind) bt Siddharth Suchde (Ind) 11-5, 11-5, 11-7.

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