Saurav Ghosal became the first Indian male player to break into the top 10 after the men’s Professional Squash Association world rankings for April was released on Monday.
The two woman stars Joshna Chinappa and Dipika Pallikal have made it to the top-10 earlier in their careers. Ghosal’s previous best was 11 which he had touched in the October last year but thereafter had dropped a rung.
It has been an incredible month for Ghosal who made it to the quarter-finals of the 2018-2019 PSA World Championships for the first time in his career. He also reached the quarter-finals of the prestigious Grasshopper Cup that was held in Switzerland.
New Zealand’s Paul Coll, who clinched the Canary Wharf Squash Classic in March sealed the fifth spot on the table, and that was his career-best as well.
Meanwhile, Egypt’s World Champion Ali Farag continues to top the rankings, followed by fellow countrymen Mohamed ElShorbagy and Tarek Momen at number two and three respectively.
Simon Rösner of Germany also rose a place to number four on the table.
India’s national Coach Cyrus Poncha said, “full credit to Ghosal for the perseverance showed. This is excellent news for Indian squash in general.
In the women’s rankings, Joshna continued to be the best-ranked Indian, moving up to 15th in the chart. Incidentally Joshna has been ranked No 10 in the world before, back in 2016. Pallikal had broken into the top-10 in 2012 and once again in 2014.
Pallikal, who has been out of the circuit for a while has dropped to 56 in the current rankings. Ramit Tandon is 50th, Vikram Malhotra 61st and Mahesh Mangaonkar 67th while in the women’s section the only other player within the top 100 is Sunayna Kuruvilla at 85.
Correction: The article originally said Ghosal was the first Indian player, it has now been changed to first male player.