India’s Harinder Pal Singh Sandhu made a winning return to international competition after a three-month break to clinch the category M5 Malaysia Squash Tour X title in Kuala Lumpur on Friday.

The world No 66, who had to miss a couple of PSA events and the World Doubles Championship due to a tooth problem, defeated Mohammed Syafiq Kamal of Malaysia 11-8, 10-12, 11-3, 9-11, 11-6 to extend his unbeaten run on the tour to 21 matches and also clinch his fifth tour title of the year.

Sandhu began his winning run in May with the Malaysia Squash Tour IX event in which he had beaten Kamal in the semi-finals. He then went on to win the Nissan Open Squash Championship and the South Australian Open before bagging him first category M10 event – the Victoria Open – in July.

But just when things began to look up, teeth trouble and a locked jaw put paid his hopes of playing in the World Doubles championship for which he was preparing at the national camp in Chennai.

“For two weeks, I only had ice-cream as I could not move my jaw. I was in the Indian camp in Chennai for the World Doubles Championships when this problem happened and it was unfortunate to miss the training and playing for two weeks. I had prepared to play in Manchester but such things can happen. I wanted to win again on the PSA tour and this win on the Malaysian Squash tour event will boost my confidence once again,” he was quoted as saying in the Indian Express.

Sandhu’s immediate target is to qualify for the World Championship in December and would be playing in the $50,000 Macau Open this month and Queensland Open in Australia next month to improve his rankings.