Home > Sports > News > PTI > Report

Saurav Ghosal wins British Open junior title

January 07, 2004 21:08 IST

Saurav Ghosal became the first Indian ever to win the coveted British Junior Open U-19 Squash title, defeating Adel El Said of Egypt in the final at Sheffield in England.

According to information received from the Squash Rackets Federation of India, 17-year-old Saurav beat his Egyptian rival 9-0 9-6 9-1.

Saurav, seeded five, broke the stranglehold of Egypt and Pakistan at this championship with the emphatic win over Adel El Said and became the first Indian to win the title since its inception in 1980.

The 17-year-old Saurav outran and outplayed his six-foot opponent who was caught on the wrong foot time and again. 

Adel El Said, who had accounted for the top seed Khalil Atlas of Pakistan in the quarterfinals, looked like a pale shadow of himself, a SRFI press release said. 

Saurav is based at the ICL squash academy in Chennai. It was also the first time that India had finalists in both boys (u-19) and girls u-19 sections.

In the girls final, India's top player Joshna Chinappa, seeded three, fought hard against Egyptian top seed Omneya Abdel Kawy but lost 4-9, 0-9, 7-9. This was Omneya's fourth successive British Junior Open title. 

'We ended last year with outstanding results in the Scottish Junior Open in December and have started the year with an incredibly fine achievement. All this due to the hard work put in by all the coaches and the players,' N Ramachandran, SRFI Secretary General, said.


Article Tools
Email this article
Print this article
Write us a letter



Related Stories


Shabana is world squash champion



People Who Read This Also Read


Farhat, Youhana give Pak win

India have stiff opener

India go down fighting







© Copyright 2003 PTI. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of PTI content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent.










Copyright © 2003 rediff.com India Limited. All Rights Reserved.