India’s leading stars Saurav Ghosal and Joshna Chinappa added one more title each to their kitty by winning the singles events at the 77th Senior National Squash Championship at the ISA courts in Chennai on Saturday.
It was title number 13 for Ghosal as he Abhishek Pradhan of Maharashtra while Chinappa made it to sweet 18 at the expense of Delhi’s Tanvi Khanna.
Both are already record holders in their respective section for the number of national titles.
Chinappa, the torch-bearer for Indian women’s squash for close to two decades now, showed why she was the one to beat as she put paid to the aspirations of Khanna, (seeded 3/4) in four games to add yet another national title to her kitty.
The top-seeded Chennai player recovered brilliantly after losing the first game to post a 8-11, 11-6, 11-4, 11-7 win to underline her superiority.
She had last year broken the record of 16 national titles held by Bhuvneshwari Kumar by winning in Pune. Chinappa won her first national crown in the year 2000 and has since lost only two matches, both finals.
“Tanvi can be very good and her pacy approach did make me work up a little,” Chinappa said.
After the first game, Chinappa changed tactics, made an effort to control the pace. She added a touch of variety to the returns and most of all tested Khanna’s agility no end.
Later, Ghosal showed why he is still the man to beat, with a crushing 11-6, 11-5, 11-6 defeat of young Pradhan (No 2 seed) to win the title yet again.
The experienced top seed did not give his opponent any chance in the summit clash and raced away to victory.
“Happy things went my way. A good session on the court and that helps as I look forward to some tough challenges in the pro-circuit ahead,” said Ghosal.
The final results:
Men: Saurav Ghosal (1) TN, bt Abhishek Pradhan (2) MH, 11-6, 11-5, 11-6;
Women: Joshana Chinappa (1) TN, bt Tanvi Khanna (3/4) DL, 8-11, 11-6, 11-4, 11-7.
