The Hindu : Sport / Squash : Ritwik falls to Muhammed Khan

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Sep 09, 2005

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Sport - Squash

Ritwik falls to Muhammed Khan

Amitabha Das Sharma

KOLKATA: Ritwik Bhattacharya, India's only hope in the quarterfinals of the PSA two-star Kolkata International squash tournament, lost to Pakistan's Khayal Muhammed Khan in a hard-fought encounter at the Calcutta Racket Club here on Thursday.

Ritwik, the former National champion and the highest-ranked Indian in the PSA circuit, won the first game. However, he failed to sustain the momentum against the seasoned Pakistani, who took over from the second game.

It turned from bad to worse in the third game as Ritwik pushed himself to the limit. The two players ended up nudging and pushing each other, leading to repeated calls of `let' from the referee.

In absence of strict measures from the chair, things got more physical in the fourth game.

Losing his cool

The 62nd-ranked Indian, who upset the 40th-ranked Egyptian Mohamed Essam A. Hafiz with a fine show of aggression and accuracy in the first round on Wednesday, fell to the Pakistan's ploy.

Despite all his experience in the PSA circuit, Ritwik lost his cool and repeatedly made unforced errors as the 69th-ranked Khan prevailed 10-11 (0-2), 11-7, 11-9, 11-8.

Earlier, in the first match of the day, top-seeded Mohammad Azlan Iskandar of Malaysia made short work of qualifier Basit Ashfaq to sail into the semifinals where he meets Khan.

In the third quarterfinal of the evening, third seed Shahier Razik of Canada beat sixth-seeded Alister Walker of England in four games.

In the concluding quarterfinal, second seeded Cameron Pilley of Australia prevailed over sixth seeded Stacey Ross of England.

The results: Quarterfinals: 1-Mohammad Azlan Iskandar (Mas) bt Basit Ashfaq (Pak) 11-3, 11-2, 11-5; Khayal Muhammed Khan (Pak) bt Ritwik Bhattacharya (Ind) 10-11 (0-2), 11-7, 11-9, 11-8; 3-Shahier Razik (Can) bt 6-Alister Walker (Eng) 11-9, 11-5, 9-11, 11-2; 2-Cameron Pilley (Aus) bt 6-Stacey Ross (Eng) 11-5, 11-5, 8-11, 11-10 (2-0).

First round: Iskandar bt Saurav Ghosal (Ind) 11-8, 9-11, 11-7, 11-3; Ashfaq bt 7-Gavin Jones (Wal) 11-4, 2-11, 11-7, 11-10 (2-0); Ritwik bt 4-Mohamed Essam A. Hafiz (Egy) 11-9, 8-11, 9-11, 11-3, 11-8; Khayal Muhammad bt 5-Ben Garner (Eng) 11-10 (2-0), 8-11, 11-7, 11-8; Walker bt Yasir Butt (Pak) 8-11, 11-1, 11-6, 7-11, 11-10 (2-0); Razik bt Cameron White (Aus) 11-8, 9-11, 11-7, 11-0; Stacey Ross (Eng) bt 8-Phillip Barker (Eng) 11-8, 11-7, 11-4; 2-Cameron Pilley (Aus) bt Arshad Iqbal Burki (Pak) 11-6, 11-4, 11-10 (4-2).

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