By IANS
Chennai : India made it to the top eight of the World Men’s Team Squash Championship here Saturday, for the first time since 1979, as they toppled Wales 3-0 in the pre-quarterfinals.
Spearheading India’s stunning upset victory was Ritwik Bhattacharya, who won his opening singles against former professional David Evans 11-6, 13-11, 11-7.
With his deceptive and finely angled crosscourt drops, Bhattacharya kept the more experienced Evans on the run and was rarely bothered.
After comfortably winning the first game, Bhattacharya blew a game ball at 10-9 when he hit out of court. Evans moved to 11-10 on a backhand drop, but Bhattacharya came up with a brilliant “nick” to level the scores and went on to win the next two points for the game.
In the third game, Bhattacharya seized the initiative at the start and opened up a big lead before taking the game 11-7 to give India an unexpected 1-0 lead in the rubber.
National champion Saurav Ghosal then wrapped up the second match when his opponent, Alex Gough, defaulted following hamstring and knee injuries with the score reading 12-14, 11-7, 11-3 in India’s favour.
Ghosal, knowing that his 37-year old opponent would tire fast, indulged in long rallies that took a toll on Gough. The Welshman, however, just about managed to hang on to take the game to the tiebreaker.
By then his body had taken quite a punishment and in the break before the second game, Gough received medical attention and returned to the court with a heavily strapped left thigh.
Thereafter, it was Ghosal all the way. He took an early lead and kept the Welshman under pressure making him stretch and run with some delightful shots. Worse was to follow for Gough as he broke his racquet trailing 4-6 and with that his game went to pieces. Ghosal won the game 11-7 to level the scores.
In the crucial third game, Ghosal met with little resistance as Gough, after initial resistance, simply surrendered and after losing 3-11, shook hands with the Indian, forfeiting the match and the rubber.
With the rubber decided, Sidharth Suchde beat Gethro Binns 11-8, 7-11, 11-2, in the inconsequential third singles that was reduced to a best-of-three game.
After the win, there were scenes of jubilation at the ICL Academy, the venue of the championship, even as news filtered of Pakistan’s loss to the Netherlands.
“It was my first win against David. I knew it was going to be a tough match, but today, I was far more relaxed than in the previous matches. Playing for your country is vastly different from playing for yourself as you do on the pro circuit. But more than anything, it is a great feeling that our team made it to the top eight,” Bhattacharya said after the match.
On his win Ghosal said: “I would have loved to continue the match and beat Alex, but then, there is nothing I could do when he conceded the tie.”
“Alex is a great counter-puncher and I realised that I had to make the best of opportunities that came my way. In the end, it was not a complete win, but what matters is that India is in top eight,” he said.
In the quarterfinals to be played Monday, India face World champions Egypt who overcame Hong Kong 3-0. World No.1 Amr Shabana did not show any ill-effects of last night’s fever as Egypt proved too good for Hong Kong.
Also through to the round of eight were England, France, Australia, Malaysia, Canada and the Netherlands.
The results of pre-quarterfinals:
India beat Wales 3-0 (Ritwik Bhattacharya beat David Evans 11-6, 13-11, 11-7;Saurav Ghosal beat Alex Gough 12-14, 11-7, 11-3 (match conceded); Sidharth Suchde beat Jethro Binns 11-8, 7-11, 11-2)
England beat Germany 3-0
Egypt beat Hong Kong 3-0
France beat New Zealand 3-0
Canada beat South Africa 2-1
Netherlands beat Pakistan 2-1
Australia beat US 3-0
Malaysia beat Ireland 2-1.
The quarterfinal line-up:
Egypt vs India
Australia vs Canada
Malaysia vs France
England vs Netherlands