Joshana Chinappa bagged her maiden WSA crown — sixth overall — in her hometown, hardly seven months after recovering from a major knee surgery. The 25-year-old Indian gave it her all in scripting a 9-11, 11-4, 11-8, 12-10 win over England’s Sarah-Jane Perry in the final of the Chennai Open $10,000 women’s squash tournament at the Indian Squash Academy.

In the semi finals, teenager Anaka Alankamony took a 2-1 lead against Sarah-Jane and had one match ball in the fourth game. However Anaka was unable to hold her lead and lost the fourth and fifth games.

The results:

Finals

Joshna Chinappa (2), IND, def. Sarah Jane Perry (3), ENG, 9-11 11-4 11-8 12-10

S/F

Sarah Jane Perry (3), ENG, def. Anaka Alankamony, IND, 8-11 11-5 6-11 14-12 11-6 .

Joshna Chinappa (2), IND, def. Salma Hany Ibrahim Ahmed (5), EGY, 13-11 11-4 11-8 .

Q/F

Anaka Alankamony, IND, def. Siti Munirah Jusoh (1), MAS, 4-11 11-9 8-11 11-8 11-4 .

Sarah Jane Perry (3), ENG, def. Victroria Bell (8), ENG, 8-11 11-4 11-9 11-4 .

Salma Hany Ibrahim Ahmed (5), EGY, def. Pushppa Devi (4), MAS, 7-11 12-10 11-7 11-8 .

Joshna Chinappa (2), IND, def. Carrie Ramsey (6), ENG, 11-7 11-8 11-6

Round 1

Siti Munirah Jusoh (1), MAS, def. Saai Meera, IND, 11-4 11-1 12-10 .

Anaka Alankamony, IND, def. Zulhijjah Binti Azan (7), MAS, 9-11 11-0 11-5 4-11 11-8 .

Sarah Jane Perry (3), ENG, def. Jessica Turnbull, AUS, 11-4 11-2 11-6 .

Victroria Bell (8), ENG, def. Lakshya Ragavendran, IND, 11-8 11-3 11-6 .

Salma Hany Ibrahim Ahmed (5), EGY, def. Mariam  Ibrahim Metwally, EGY, 11-6 6-11 14-12 10-12 11-5 .

Pushppa Devi (4), MAS, def. Harshit Kaur Jawanda, IND, 11-8 12-10 12-10 .

Carrie Ramsey (6), ENG, def. Ashita Bhengra, IND, 11-5 11-0 11-2 .

Joshna Chinappa (2), IND, def. Nouran Ahmed Gohar, EGY, 11-8 11-9 5-11 11-7

Qualifying

Mariam  Ibrahim Metwally, EGY, def. Sunayna Kuruvilla, IND, 11-1 11-1 11-3 .

Saai Meera, IND, def. Janvi Rathore, IND, 11-5 11-3 11-1 .

Ashita Bhengra, IND, def. A V Apoorva, IND, 11-3 11-4 11-6 .

Lakshya Ragavendran, IND, def. Shamika Reddy, IND, 11-7 11-2 11-2

 Indian women created history by winning their maiden Asian title as they beat Hong Kong 2-0 in the final of the Asian Team Squash held at Kuwait from 1-5 May 2012. India, however, went down 0-2 to Pakistan in the men’s final.
The Indian quartet, Dipika Pallikal, Joshana Chinappa, Anaka Alankamony & Aparajitha Balamurukan had an outstanding week defeating China, Sri Lanka & Malaysia to top their pool. In the semi finals they defeated Korea 2-0 and in the finals defeated top seeded Hong Kong 2-0.

 The Indians seeded third went into the final as underdogs with Dipika (World No. 14) set to take on Annie Au, who is currently ranked No. 6 in the World. Joshana (World No. 71), who is coming back from an injury layoff, had the formidable task of taking on World No. 16 Joey Chan. 

But Joshna, who opened the final tie for the Indians, went into the match all guns blazing, surprising Chan. The match went into four games but Joshna always had the upper hand in crucial rallies. 

Then Dipika came up with a outstanding effort against Au. Dipika played to a perfect game plan of basics with no-frills against her higher-ranked opponent.

 Victory by the top two players ensured the title for India.

 However, it was a mixed result for the Indians with the men’s team of Saurav Ghosal, Siddharth Suchde, Harinder Pal Sandhu and Mahesh Mangaonkar going down to Pakistan in the title clash.

 Seeded one, the team defeated Singapore and Jordan in the pool stage, Jordan in the quarterfinal and Kuwait in the semi final. 

In the final, Siddharth began on the back foot against Zaman and came back from two games down to take the match to the decider where he narrowly missed out. While Saurav who took a 2-0 lead against Farahan Mehboob was unable to hold on to his lead also going down in the fifth game 11-9.

 Overall it was an outstanding performance by the Indian contingent.

 Victory by the women was the icing on the cake in addition to men’s silver-winning performance which result equaled the inaugural edition of the tournament held in 1981 in Karachi.



 Women’s Results
Finals: India beat Hongkong 2-0


Joshna Chinappa beat Joey Chan 11-3, 11-8, 8-11, 11-8


Dipika Pallikal beat Annie Au 11-8, 12-10, 11-8

Semifinals: India bt Korea 2-0


Anaka Alankmony bt Yang Yeon Soo 11-8, 8-11, 11-9,

11-2
Dipika Pallikal bt Song Sun Mi 11-7 11-8 11-2

Quarterfinals: India beat Malaysia 2-0: 


Joshna Chinappa bt Delia Arnold 8-11, 11-4, 11-5, 12-10


Anaka Alankmony bt Siti Munirah Josoh 11-6, 11-5, 11-4

Remaining final positions: 3 Malaysia & Korea, 5 Japan, 6 China, 7 Sri Lanka, 8 Iran

Men’s Results

Finals: Pakistan beat India 2-0


Farhan Zaman bt Siddharth Suchde 11-6, 11-7, 11-13, 7-11, 11-9

Farhan Mahboob bt Saurav Ghosal 11-7, 6-11, 7-11, 11-7, 11-9


Semifinals: India bt Kuwait 2-0


Harinder Pal Singh Sandhu bt Salem Fayez Mohammed 12-10, 11-9, 11-7


Saurav Ghosal bt Abdullah Al Muzayen 12-10, 12-14, 11-9, 11-7

Quarterfinals: India beat Japan 3-0


Siddharth Suchde bt Yuta Fukui 11-4, 8-11, 11-8, 11-3

El Shorbagy, the reigning world junior champion, clinched the British Junior U19 Open title in January to extend his lead at the top of the men’s rankings to more than 30 points. The 18-year-old from Alexandria has topped the rankings since their launch in October last year.

Title success in both the French Junior U19 Open in February and the German Junior U19 Open last month takes England’s Oliver Holland up to second place in the list.

Egypt’s Mohamed Abouelghar retains third place and Indian Mahesh Mangaonkar drops to four – while Richie Fallows, runner-up to fellow countryman Holland both in the French and German Opens, rises 12 places to No5.

Egypt’s Nour El Sherbini has leap-frogged Emily Whitlock to replace the English teenager at the top of the women’s rankings. Alexandria-based El Sherbini, who is just 16 years old, celebrated her fifth British Junior Open success in January by winning the U19 trophy for the second time.

After a surprise semi-final British Junior Open exit in January, Whitlock is bidding to defend her European Junior Championship title this week in Portugal – but success in the Belgian & Swiss Junior Opens late last year have contributed towards her second place.

India’s Anaka Alankamony slips to third place – while France’s Julia Lecoq jumps five positions to No4 after winning the French Junior U19 Open against expectations.

Nele Gilis becomes the highest-ranked Belgian in the list. The 16-year-old leaps 25 places to No6 after winning the Czech Junior U19 Open.

The WSF World Junior Circuit Rankings - based on the under-19 age grouping and launched last October – are issued quarterly, based on results achieved in national junior opens, regional championships and WSF World Junior Individual Championships.

Men’s top 10:

Women’s top 10:

Full lists available at www.worldsquash.org (click on Junior Circuit)

By Howard Harding

The top seed from Cairo rallied back after losing the first game to defeat second seed Olli Tuominen of Finland 3-11, 11-5, 11-8, 11-4 before an appreciative crowd at Hong Kong Football Club.

Final:

[1] Omar Mosaad  bt [2] Olli Tuominen  3-11, 11-5, 11-8, 11-4 (55m)
Semifinals:
Omar Mosaad (Egy) beat Leo Au (HK) 8-11, 11-1, 11-3, 11-4 (38m)
Olli Tuominen (Fin) beat Muhd Asyraf Azan (Mal) 11-5, 13-11, 11-7 (46m)

Round 2:
Olli Tuominen  beat Siddarth Suchde 11-5, 6-11, 11-3, 11-8 (67m)

Round one:
Amr Khalid Khalifa (Egy) beat  [Q] Harinderpal Sandhu (Ind) 11/5, 11/8, 11/6 (43m)
Siddarth Suchde (Ind) beat Mohamed Abouelghar (Egy)
11/7, 11/3, 11/4 (38m)

WSA WORLD RANKING-MAR 2012

PSA WORLD RANKING-MAR 2012

The way the Under-21 World squash championship ended in Chennai with music, LED lights and to a packed audience, not to forget the ambience — the Express Avenue Mall — and of course the edge-of the-seat competition, the World Squash Federation President N. Ramachandran must be wondering if anything more needs to be done to prove the popularity of the sport. The event, sponsored by the Sports Development Authority of Tamil Nadu and the State Government (which announced a commitment to the tune of Rs. 1crore), is a new fixture in the World squash calendar. It is an event, as Ramachandran said, to facilitate the transition of players from the very junior level to the youth phase before many of them go on to build their professional careers.

The event was also planned to make squash as much spectator and television friendly as possible so as to catch the attention of the International Olympic Committee, which is to decide next year on including one new sport in Olympics 2020. Significantly, the Chennai programme was attended by the IOC’s honorary member Hein Verbruggen, who from all accounts, was really impressed. He also complimented the Squash Rackets Federtation of India for “putting up such a meticulously planned show.”

Aside from squash, those in the list vying for that single slot in the 2020 Olympics are baseball, karate, roller sports, softball, sports climbing, wake-board and wushu. “Twelve sports were considered, eight were retained,” IOC President Jacques Rogge had said. The final list will be put to vote in late 2013 at the IOC session in Buenos Aires.

Be that as it may, the final evening was something to remember for squash aficionados as also for the many uninitiated shoppers in the mall, who remained glued to the action in the all-glass court with LED lights to highlight the floor markings, a novelty as far as squash competition went. Add to that the chest-thudding music during the intervals as also the pop dances to the beat of the latest chartbusters! Well, there were many things unique in a competition ambience, but none of these really affected the ebb and flow of the contests, which were sharp right through. As the French player Luca Serme, easily one of the revelations of the tournament, put it, “all the din did not matter once I entered the court. What delighted me was the court which was simply superb.”

What better than a final in which India was one of the contenders! It was a historic moment that none failed to notice. For never has India featured in the title round of a world championship at any level and the moment when it arrived brought a spontaneous gesture from SRFI — a Rs. 5-lakh reward to the members of the team that comprised Ramit Tandon, Ravi Dixit, Karan Malik, Dipika Pallikal and Anaka Alankamony with Maj S. Maniam the Manager and Cyrus Poncha the Coach. Overwhelming favourite and top-seed Egypt with an array of world junior champions — Marwan El Shorbagy, Nour El Sherbini and Nour El Tayeb — as also the promising Karim Abdel Gawad, was the key contender and there was no stopping it from bagging the honours.

But then Egypt did not prove a runaway winner, thanks to Dipika Pallikal, the highest ranked player in the competition with a World ranking of 14. This petite player was performing in front of her home crowd for the first time since touching a new high in world rankings. And in a tough match, Dipika gave her fans many tense moments before downing Sherbini and levelling the tie score after Shorbagy had tamed a fighting Ravi Dixit in the opening rubber. Dipika’s win was something that heightened the pitch for the climactic deciding third match in the tie — between Ramit Tandon and Gawad. What was special in Dipika’s performance was the way she handled the pressure, producing some scintillating strokes on both flanks and topping them with wristy placings. She surely has risen in stature and the match provided ample proof of this. The control she showed in playing the drops, often finding the nick or the corner with geometric precision, was really noteworthy.

The crowd truly had its fill, more so as Dipika’s victory was wrested from the jaws of defeat — she survived half a dozen match points — and set the tone for the finale. If coach Poncha thought that Ramit would thrive on pressure then Egypt’s counterpart Amir Wahi was equally confident that Gawad’s cool approach would prove the turning point. “Gawad is champion material who will surely blossom once he finishes his studies and gets into full time professional squash,” said Wahi, who has worked with some of the best talents in the world, about this 20-year-old wonder. “In two years you will see him in the top-eight,” Wahi predicted and Gawad showed why he is rated high as with a serene countenance he wore down Ramit in what was a battle of wits till the last point.

Even if the event ended on expected lines with Egypt cornering glory, the World Cup brought to the fore some talents whom the squash world is bound to see more in the seasons ahead. Surme is one, someone who has modelled himself on the lines of France’s top player Gregory Gaultier. There is an air of confidence about him, equipped as he is with soft hands and admirable court coverage. It was his magical performance that underlined France’s grand win over England, an outcome which was considered rare from the European perspective.

That England avenged that in the placings (for third place) is a different matter, but that match also brought to view Charles Sharpes, who could well be England’s next big name. An U-17 and U-19 British Open winner, Sharpes is just 20. But, already, he has a handful of PSA tour titles to his name and his sharp on-court play, aided by power and precision, makes him a delightful player to watch. As David Campion, a former player and England Coach said, “But for the U-21 World Cup it would have taken longer for players of his ilk in England to represent the country.” Such then is the competition at the highest level in England.

While England and France provided a glimpse of the future, Australia was not far behind. The team’s star was not any player, but coach Rodney Eyles, a former world champion. A renowned coach now, Rodney said Australia had come with untested, raw hands and “the experience of the World Cup should do them a world of good.” Indeed if squash were to get the Olympic nod, we know who would be the players vying for honours, eight years from now.

For the record, Malaysia, Hong Kong and Germany were the others in the field of eight teams.

The new event – based on the successful model of the two-man-one-woman teams in the biennial (senior) WSF World Cup – was staged at the Express Avenue Mall in Chennai, the largest shopping complex in southern India.

The event climaxed in a dramatic and unexpected final between Egypt and India - the top seeds versus the fourth-seeded hosts. Spurred on by an exuberant crowd seated around the all-glass court as well as hanging over balconies stretching three floors above, outsiders India staged a remarkable fight back in the second match to force a decider before ultimately falling to the favourites.

The new court featured an experimental glass floor with a superb new substructure allowing great ‘spring’ and the ability to use different colours and advertising signs under the floor. This exciting new development featured a multitude of LED lights beneath the floor, allowing scores, service boxes, sponsor signs and patterns to be displayed to add to the spectator enjoyment.

“The event showed once again the sheer versatility of squash presentation,” explained WSF President N Ramachandran. “The shopping centre itself attracted a near record attendance of over 75,000 on finals day – a massive crowd exposed to the sport as they passed the central atrium, or overlooked the action from above, or were simply intrigued by the spectacle as they went from floor to floor on the escalators that passed beside the playing arena.

“It was an overwhelming success, not just for squash in India but around the rest of the world,” added Ramachandran. “And a very successful debut for the championship which can only grow as it continues biennially.”

In addition to substantial media coverage in the home nation, all matches were available live on-line and there was television coverage of the final three days at the Express Avenue Mall.

Hein Verbruggen, President of SportAccord and an Honorary IOC Member, was a special guest at the championship. “I’m very pleasantly surprised for your federation,” said Mr Verbruggen after watching the final. “It was a breath-taking final – probably the best you could possibly have hoped for. India did a great job and I’m very happy I’m here.”

The introduction of a new world championship which bridges the gap between the junior game, which has for many years provided international competition at U13, U15, U17 and U19 levels, and the senior tours, was widely applauded.

Australian Rodney Eyles, the distinguished former world champion and Commonwealth Games silver medallist, was extremely enthused by the introduction of the U21 team event: “It’s very significant from Australia’s point of view. We’ve suffered over the years from the transition from junior to senior level – but we can now show our youngsters a good pathway, laying the foundation for the PSA and WSA Tours.

“The World Squash Federation have brilliantly orchestrated this and the countries have really supported it,” added Eyles.

“It’s exactly what we needed and I think it will really help inspire our youngsters to take up the game.”

The top seed faced Pakistan qualifier Yasir Butt, a 23-year-old from Lahore whose giant-killing run in the event included the scalps of three higher-ranked opponents.

Ghosal recovered to win the first two games, but Butt reduced the deficit after the third. The six-time Indian champion neutralised Butt from the start of the fourth, quickly establishing a 5-1 lead. Butt was unable to close the gap as Ghosal powered on to secure his title-winning 11-8, 15-13, 10-12, 11-5 victory.

The success marks the fifth Tour title of Ghosal’s career.

RESULTS:

Final:
[1] Saurav Ghosal (IND) bt [Q] Yasir Butt (PAK) 11-8, 15-13, 10-12, 11-5

Semi-finals:

[1] Saurav Ghosal (IND) bt [4] Alan Clyne (SCO) 11-4, 11-5, 11-6

[Q] Yasir Butt (PAK) bt [3] Mohd Ali Anwar Reda (EGY) 9-11, 11-2, 8-11, 12-10, 11-3

Quarter-finals:
[1] Saurav Ghosal (IND) bt [Q] Olivier Pett (ENG) 5-11, 11-7, 11-4, 14-12

1st round:
[1] Saurav Ghosal (IND) bt Cesar Salazar (MEX) 6-11, 8-11, 11-2, 11-6, 11-6 (76m)