The Hindu : Sport / Squash : Harinderpal packs off Shamsul

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Harinderpal packs off Shamsul

Special Correspondent

Ghosal and Ritwik stretched; Anwesha overcomes Irina

— Photo: V. Ganesan

CAUSING A RIPPLE: Harinderpal Singh Sandhu stunned Shamsul Islam Khan in the ICL-Chennai Open on Thursday.

CHENNAI: Harinderpal Singh Sandhu is known in the ICL Academy for his never-say-die attitude. And proof came on Thursday when he dislodged the sixth seed Shamsul Islam Khan of Pakistan in four games to register the first big upset in the ICL-Chennai Open, a combined PSA and WISPA squash event.

Harinderpal won 12-10, 9-11, 11-1, 13-11 to enter the quarterfinals and will face Ritwik Bhattcharya next.

What made Harinderpal’s win even more creditable was the fact that he had just recovered from a bout of fever and been off the courts for a while. However, the qualification phase helped him tune up and the match against Shamsul provided the ideal testing ground.

Shamsul has been at the Academy for sometime now, sparring with the trainees as part of SRFI’s scheme to help the junior players prepare for tougher competitions, in particular the World junior championship scheduled later this month.

Perfect returns

Though not a junior, Harinderpal could still have practised with the experienced Pakistan player. Only his illness prevented him from doing so. “I only did some warm-up exercises with him,” Harinderpal said after the well-deserved win that saw him move around the court with alacrity and deliver some perfect returns.

As the contest became close, both players began to question the ‘let calls’. Apart from a few minor interruptions, play went on. It soon became a test of stamina and Shamsul appeared drained out.

The first sign of the Pakistani beginning to lose ground came in the third game when he picked just one point. The Indian programmed his finish to perfection with two brilliant shots to the top of the tin to wrap up the 39-minute encounter.

Harita impresses

Things panned out on expected lines otherwise and all the winners entered the last eight stage. While the top two seeds Saurav Ghosal and Ritwik Bhattacharya were stretched, it was easy for the women though local girl Anwesha Reddy had some uncertain moments midway through the tie against Russian Irina Assal before pulling through.

Harita Om Prakash, non WISPA member, impressed in her straight game win over Surbhi Misra.

The results (all pre-quarterfinals):

PSA event: Saurav Ghosal (Ind) bt Naresh Kumar (Ind) 11-5, 11-7, 13-11; Rob Sutherland (Wal) bt Graeme Wilson (NZ) 11-4, 11-6, 11-4; Ryan Cuskelly (Aus) bt Zac Alexander (Aus) 12-10, 11-4, 11-4 ; Dick Lau (Hkg) bt Parth Sharma (Ind) 11-7, 11-7, 11-7; Max Lee (Hkg) bt Gaurav Nandrajog (Ind) 12-14, 11-8, 11-1, 12-10; Mohd. Ali Reda (Egp) bt James Snell (Eng) 11-9, 11-7, 11-7; Harinderpal Singh Sandhu bt Shamsul Islam Khan (Pak) 12-10, 9-11, 11-1, 13-11; Ritwik Bhattacharya (Ind) bt Ravi Dixit (Ind) 12-10, 11-9, 11-1.

WISPA event: Christine Mak (Hkg) bt Shriya Khatri (Ind) 9-2, 9-3, 9-2; Dipika Pallikal (Ind) bt Swati Muchal (Ind) 9-0, 9-2, 9-0; Orla Noom (Ned) bt Saumya Karki (Ind) 9-1, 7-9, 9-3, 9-1; Anwesha Reddy bt Irina Assal (Rus) 9-4, 9-4, 3-9, 9-1; Harita Om Prakash (Ind) bt Surbhi Misra (Ind) 10-8, 9-5, 9-2; Annie Au (Hkg) bt Anaka Alankamony (Ind) 9-4, 9-0, 9-2; Birgit Coufal (Aut) bt Sachika Balvani (Ind) 9-4, 9-4, 9-3; Joshna Chinappa (Ind) bt Aparajitha Balamurukan (Ind) 9-2, 9-1, 9-0.

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