The Hindu : Sport / Squash : Parth Sharma and Naresh Kumar are champions

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Jul 27, 2007
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Sport - Squash

Parth Sharma and Naresh Kumar are champions

S.R. Suryanarayan

Top seeds Saurav and Harinder lose the plot

— Photo: R. Ragu

SMILES OF SUCCESS: The Tamil Nadu ‘A’ team which won the men’s and women’s team titles.

CHENNAI: Parth Sharma and Naresh Kumar are the new champion doubles pair in squash in the country. Both members of the ICL academy and representing Tamil Nadu shocked the top seed and favourites Saurav Ghosal and Harinder Pal Singh to provide the surprise element on the final day of the National doubles championship here on Thursday.

Parth and Naresh are seeded two and the way the contest coursed through initially it seemed the duo would finish next best. But as the emerging force in National squash after some impressive performances overseas in recent times, much was expected of these two. Surely they could not have chosen a better day to announce their arrival on the National scene by beating the defending champion.

Transformation

Two games down and a shaky look meant it was a question of time before the contest ended on predictable terms. But the transformation began there. Naresh and Parth switched sides. Naresh came to the backhand court and Parth went to forehand. What a master stroke this was became evident from then on.

Naresh hardly put a return down, matching wits with the redoubtable Saurav beside him, while Parth was far more at ease tackling Harinder’s straight shots. Generally sprightly and an admirable trier, Harinder looked strangely docile and many a time surprised his partner Saurav by crashing his forehand into the tin. As Harinder was to say later, he had taken a touch of fever in his stride. Surely in a sport where every ounce of energy is demanded and every muscle is stretched Harinder’s discomfiture was understandable. Saurav tried his best, getting his soft touches near the tin to work and at times letting loose those steeply angled forehand drops. But so agile was Naresh and so pumped up was Parth that despite the rallies going seemingly never ending, the pair remained steady and assured. Slowly and surely Naresh and Parth grabbed the advantage and the breach began to show in the approach of Saurav and Harinder. With one brilliant forehand shot to the nick and a victory cry, Parth ended the nearly 90-minute entertainment.

The Secretary-General of SRFI, N. Ramachandran, gave away the prizes.

The results: Doubles championship: final: Parth Sharma & Naresh Kumar (TN) bt Saurav Ghosal & Harinder Pal Singh (TN) 10-12, 6-11, 11-7, 11-9, 11-9. Third place: Vikram Malhotra & Niraj Shirgaokar (Mah) b t Vikas Jangra & Shakti Singh (Ser) 7-11, 11-9, 11-10 (2-0), 1-11, 11-9. Inter-State: final: Men: Tamil Nadu ‘A’ bt Tamil Nadu ‘B’ 2-0 (Parth Sharma bt Ravi Dixit 9-7, 9-4, 9-5; Saurav Ghosal bt A. Parthiban 9-1, 9-1, 9-2). Women: winner: Tamil Nadu ‘A’ (Anwesha Reddy, Harita Omprakash, Anaka, Aparajitha Balamurukan). Runner-up: Tamil Nadu ‘B’ (Akshara, Rangashree, Shruti Duggal, Komal Sharma).