The Hindu : Sport : Saurav Ghosal wins without much ado

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Sunday, Jun 17, 2007
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Saurav Ghosal wins without much ado

Special Correspondent

PROUD CHAMP: Saurav Ghosal receives the trophy from Atulya Mishra, Member Secretary, SDAT as N. Ramachandran, Secretary-General, SRFI looks on. — Photo: V. Ganesan

Everything ended in a flash. Top-seeded Indian Saurav Ghosal, raring to go, did not need to work up much sweat as his Hong Kong opponent, second-seeded Wai Hang Wong, conscious of a stiff hamstring, decided to give in easily.

What was expected to be a rousing final thus ended on a tame note with Saurav taking the honours in the $6,000 ICL-Chennai Open, a super satellite PSA tournament here on Saturday.

Quick end

Just 21 minutes of action was all there was in the final. "Actually I did not think I was in a state to take the court. But it would have disappointed everyone if I had just shaken hands with Saurav and got away," said Wong of his discomfiture on the important day. "Even at my best I could have only run close. He is so strong," Wong said of Saurav.

For one who had glided and bended like a ballet artiste in the earlier matches, something seemed wrong when he showed a distinct disinterest in going for the drops or low returns. Even then nothing seemed amiss to start with because Wong had shown a tendency to settle down slowly. Often his best begins after he drops a game.

But against Saurav the trend did not change. Whereas the Indian seemed to be in the mood to exhibit his best as he opened his rich repertoire of strokes.

There was the sliced backhands that took the area, inches above the tin, for the ball to die without a bounce. Then the forehand and backhand drives that caught Wong on the wrong foot and above all the masked returns which left the Hong Kong player guessing and committing the wrong moves. It was a pity that such rich array of strokes from one player had to go without appropriate rejoinders from a rival, who was struggling to remain fit on the court.

Consistent display

Saurav was consistent with his corner shots and all the three games he was swift in collecting the points. In the first game for instance he raced away fro a 5-3 lead to the last point in one go. More or less similar was the trend in the next. Adding to Saurav's ease was the repeated `strokes' that came his way, thanks to the restricted movement of Wong.

While in earlier matches Wong's peak touch came late, it was a huge slide that one witnessed as he was down 0-6 straightaway in the third game and there was little he could do from there.

Saurav thus pocketed his second PSA title in four appearances in the final and to be sure this must have been the easiest picking thus far.

"I am happy I could win in Chennai," he said as he gets ready for the tougher tournament in Egypt next. The effort brought him $750 while Wong received close to $500 as prize money.

The Member Secretary Atulya Mishra was chief guest in the presence of N. Ramachandran, Secretary-General, SRFI.

The result: Final: Saurav Ghosal (Ind) bt Wai Hang Wong (Hong Kong) 11-3, 11-2, 11-3.

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