21-Mar, Final:
Grant claims
Kolkata title
Dalip Tripathi reports
 
Third seeded Adrian Grant of England justified his billing by overriding giant killer Hisham Ashour of Egypt to lift the title in the PSA Indian Challenger here at the Calcutta Racket Club on Saturday evening.

The Egyptian, who sprung the biggest surprise of the tournament beating the top seeded and world No. 11 Ong Beng Hee in the semi-finals, failed to reproduce that form in the final giving Grant an easy ride to the title. With the Egyptian lapsing into repeated errors the Englishman won in straight games – 11-8, 11-5, 11-8 ending what was expected to be a close fight in just 40 minutes. The two shared the record of wins and losses having met twice before.

Riding a good form in the season that saw him reaching his fourth final in five tournaments so far in the year, Grant maintained a high level of consistency forcing Ashour into making repeated errors. The Egyptian, who complained of a leg injury, tried to outdo his opponent in power in a bid to cover the deficit in fitness. The Englishman, ranked 13th in the world, was in no mood to accept the ploy of his opponent (ranked 29th) and kept retrieving the shots before Ashour made the mistakes trying in vain for the winners.

Ashour’s aggression gave him the initial advantage in every game. The Egyptian ran up a lead in every game but muddled up latter in all the hurry to break the defences of Grant.

"I could make out that he was not fully fit, so I just kept returning while he made the mistakes."

Too many negative points in the later stages of the games spoiled the prospects of Ashour, who was hoping to win his first title of the season. Grant was happy that he could break the jinx of losing three finals previously.

"The win is quite reassuring especially after having lost three finals so closely in the season," Grant said.

The triumph takes Grant's career title tally to 16 - now making the Londoner the current Englishman with the most Tour titles, and second only in all-time to Peter Nicol, the former world number one from England who retired after collecting a total of 49 PSA Tour titles.
 

6-11, 5-11, 12-10,
11-2, 12-10 (58m)

[4] Hisham Ashour

11-8, 11-5,
11-8 (40m)

[3] Adrian Grant

11-13, 11-4, 11-5, 11-5 (75m)

[2] Azlan Iskandar

16/17Mar, Qualifying:

 

18-Mar, Round One:
Saurav makes Kolkata Quarters

Indian National champion Saurav Ghosal worked up a confident straight-game win against compatriot Naresh Kumar to move into the quarterfinals of the PSA Indian Open here at the Calcutta Racket Club on Wednesday.

Sixth seeded Ghosal remained the sole Indian surviving in the main draw as former India No.1 Ritwik Bhattacharya went down fighting against fifth seeded Mohammed Abbas of Egypt in another opening round encounter. The action in the pre-quarterfinals justified the hierarchy with all the seeded players moving up into quarterfinals with relatively easy wins in respective matches.

Ghosal was given a good challenge by his younger unseeded opponent, Kumar, who had received a wildcard entry. The latter gave tough chase in the first game but fell short in the end as the former had better shots winning crucial points that decided the game. Kumar came even closer in the second game and had a game point leading 10-9 at one stage. Ghosal salvaged the game point and went on to win the game 13-11. Kumar was visibly drained out by his efforts and lost the third game without winning a point. Ghosal runs up against top seeded Ong Beng Hee of Malaysia in the quarterfinals.

Bhattacharya began well but lost steam as his higher seeded opponent stepped up his game in the later stages of the tie. The Indian looked fit and fresh as he raced to 11-7 to win the first game raising hopes of an upset. Bhattacharya, who is currently ranked 59th in the world, began committing unforced errors at crucial points giving Abbas enough space to claw back into the action. The Egyptian was unstoppable in the next three games, which he won comfortably with the Indian struggling to keep his errors in check.

“Minor errors cost you the game when you are against an opponent of Abbas’ calibre,” said Bhattacharya after the match. “I was feeling fine physically and moving around the court well. But I made too many errors in the rush get winners,” he added.

Two Malaysians – Ong Beng Hee and Azlan Iskandar – who occupy the top two seedings being No. 11 and 12 in the world, had easy outings against unseeded opponents. Another big name in the tournament, Englishman Adrian Grant (ranked 13 in the world) also won easily before moving into the next round.