The Hindu : Sport / Squash : Tamil Nadu retains title

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Thursday, Aug 28, 2008
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Tamil Nadu retains title

V.V. Subrahmanyam

Saurav Ghosal in his element

— Photo: K. Ramesh Babu

THE WINNERS: Tamil Nadu team (from left), K. Srikanth (manager), Harinder Pal Singh, Saurav Ghosal, Ravi Dixit, and Naresh Kumar), which won the senior National championship.

HYDERABAD: Tamil Nadu scored a 2-0 win over Services to retain the team championship in the 56th ICL Senior National inter-State squash championship at Secunderabad Club here on Wednesday.

Chennai’s Harinder Pal Singh, up against the Services No. 2 Vikas Jangra, had to fight hard to record a 11-13, 12-10, 11-2, 11-6 win in the first match.

Vikas, starting well took 10 minutes to wrap up the first game, helped as he was by Harinder missing his drops often.

But the second game saw a transformed Harinder. He stayed put in the centre and came up with some stunning returns on either flanks. He even got his drops going and the drive-ins landed in the right places.

Though Vikas managed to level the scores twice at eight and nine with a couple of delectable drops, Harinder was quick to recover his composure to clinch the game in 15 minutes. After that he never looked back. Taking just 10 minutes to win the third game, he clinched the fourth in another 10 minutes. The stage was set for the four-time national champion Saurav Ghosal, who made the hapless Sandeep Jangra look like a novice.

The champion gave a lesson in the art of scoring. His agility and the accuracy of his strokes were a revelation. He took just about 20 minutes to get through 11-3, 11-2, 11-7.

A delighted Tamil Nadu manager K. Srikanth said, “it was not a match at all. There was no real fight.

Narayan Das, president of Secunderabad Club, gave away the prizes. The winners were richer by Rs. 25,000, runner-up Services by Rs. 15, 000 and Delhi which finished third by Rs. 10,000.

The results: Final: Tamil Nadu bt Services 2-0 (Harinder Pal Singh bt Vikas Jangra 11-13, 12-10, 11-2, 11-6; Saurav Ghosal bt Sandeep Jangra 11-3, 11-2, 11-7). 3rd place: Delhi bt West Bengal 2-1 (Suhail Kapoor bt Gaurav Narvan 11-9, 11-7, 11-4; Amjad Khan lost to Dalip Tripathi 6-11, 11-9, 7-11; Rishi Jalan bt Rishabh Mundra 11-9, 11-5, 8-11, 11-7).

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