India
To Face Egypt
In Historic World Final In Chennai
Howard Harding
reports
 Indian
number two Ramit Tandon survived a nail-biting
decider in the SDAT WSF Under-21 World Cup semi-finals today
against France at the Express Avenue Mall in Chennai to take
the hosts into Sunday's climax of the inaugural World Squash
Federation event - thus marking India's first ever
appearance in a world squash final.
The clash on the unique ASB GlassCourt - an all-glass
showcourt featuring a pioneering new glass floor with under-floor
LED lighting - in the atrium of the largest shopping complex
in southern India attracted a rolling crowd of some 50,000
partisan spectators, watching the action from vantage points
on four floors.
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Lucas
Serme 3-1 Ravi Dixit
11/6, 8/11, 11/6, 11/7 |
Underdogs India, the fourth
seeds, opened their account against third seeds France with
Ravi Dixit taking on Frenchman Lucas Serme.
The quality of the match which ensued belied the pair's
world rankings - 183 and 139, respectively - and after 65
minutes it was Serme who claimed the advantage, beating the
20-year-old from Chennai 11-6, 8-11, 11-6, 11-7.
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Chloé Mesic 0-3 Dipika Pallikal
3/11, 3/11, 5/11 |
After the subdued reaction
from the crowd, the decibels increased noticeably as local
heroine Dipika Pallikal, the Chennai born and bred
20-year-old who boasts a world No14 ranking, took apart
France's Chloe Mesic 11-3, 11-4, 11-5 in just 26
minutes to bring the hosts back into contention.
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Geoffrey Demont 1-3 Ramit Tandon
5/11, 11/6, 2/11, 12/14 |
Kolkata-born Ramit Tandon
has seen his world ranking slip to 333 since taking up an
Economics course at Columbia University in the USA last year.
But the 19-year-old showed no signs of inferiority as he
battled with Frenchman Geoffrey Demont, ranked almost
200 places higher.
Dixit took the opener, then responded to the Frenchman's
second game win by capturing the third for the loss of just
two points.
Demont led briefly in the dramatic fourth - but it was Dixit
who kept his focus to reach match-ball at 10-6.
The Frenchman saved four before going on to have his own
game-ball - but, urged on by the crowd and his hysterical
team-mates, the local star finally clinched victory at the
sixth attempt 11-5, 6-11, 11-2, 14-12 after 57 minutes to
take his country into a historic final.
 The
crowd went wild and Tandon was quickly engulfed by his
team-mates and other supporters on the court.
Indian national coach
Cyrus Poncha was beaming from ear to ear: "It's an
absolutely wonderful feeling - and just great for Indian
squash.
"It's good to show the results of all the efforts over the
last ten years - started by the commitment by Mr
Ramachandran, now the WSF President, to invest in the
Indian Squash Academy which has produced so many talented
young players - including all the ones tonight.
"And Ramit was absolutely brilliant - his hands are
world-class. Yet when he decided to go to the USA to study,
I feared he might never play for India again. But because of
his desire and the support from his parents he still
continues to train over here - and the result are here for
all to see.
"It was only a year ago that Ramit made a major contribution
to India's victory over favourites Pakistan in the Asian
Junior Team Championship final - which resulted in our first
regional title."
In the earlier semi-final,
favourites Egypt overcame England - but the
second seeds surprisingly forced the tie into a decider
after 17-year-old Emily Whitlock celebrated "my best
win ever" by beating world junior champion Nour El Tayeb for
the first time.
Marwan El
Shorbagy 3-1 Charles Sharpes
11-7, 12-14, 11-4, 11-6 (50m) |
Marwan El Shorbagy,
the rapidly improving world junior champion who now boasts a
world ranking of 33, put Egypt into the lead as expected -
but England's Charles Sharpes stretched the match to
four games before the 18-year-old from Alexandria claimed
his 11-7, 12-14, 11-4, 11-6 win after 50 minutes.
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Nour El Tayeb 1-3 Emily Whitlock
8-11, 10-12, 9-11 (41m) |
 El
Tayeb had won the three previous encounters with
Whitlock and now boasts a world ranking of 18 after
leaping to 12 three months ago.
But it was a 'new-look' Whitlock, ranked 15 places lower,
who took to the court on this occasion - and after 41
minutes of dazzling squash came away with an 11-8, 12-10,
11-9 victory, in all three games coming from behind.
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Karim Abdel Gawad 3-0 Declan James
11-7, 11-8, 11-9 (38m) |
 England's
hopes of a place in the final were dashed however when the
Egyptian number two Karim Abdel Gawad beat tall 18-year-old
Declan James 11-7, 11-8, 11-9.
"There was a lot of pressure on that match - but it's a
dream that we're now playing in the final," said Gawad, the
world No42 from Alexandria, afterwards.
But the England camp were full of praise for Whitlock's
stunning performance. "It was huge," said England coach
David Campion. "The whole point of being here is to
learn from this world class environment.
"This was the best win of Emily's career - and the fact that
she did it here in this world arena makes it even more
special."
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"It was good playing in front of this
great crowd - but I had to try and block them out and think of my
team. I really enjoyed the match and I am very happy to win.
"It was definitely the toughest match of the tournament. I thought
it would be an easier match than the one against Charles (Sharpes) -
but I didn't take into account the crowd. I mentally had to really
push myself. I'm so happy."
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"It was disappointing that we lost the
first match - but I had to go on and just play my game."
"The last match was a nerve-wracking - but Ramit played incredibly
well and it was a great result to get us into the final.
"It's something we've all trained hard for - and it's great that
it's happened here in Chennai."
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"We've worked hard for this - but I did
feel a lot of pressure in that match.
"At 10-6 in the fourth, I just got too excited and made too many
errors. But my team helped me through.
"It was great to play in front of such a big crowd - my brother and
my Dad were here too, plus a lot of friends."
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"It's awesome - I just can't believe it.
It's definitely my best win ever. I've been really nervous recently.
"I know it's a team event, but she was 12 in the world and I beat
her! Maybe I really am quite good after all!
"Nour is actually a good friend of mine and she said to me when we
arrived in Chennai that I should relax more - 'you're 33 in the
world and you could beat people in the top 20'.
"It's shame I didn't beat her in last year's world junior
championships - but I just wasn't good enough then. I just didn't
believe in myself - but I know I've improved a lot since the British
Junior Open last month."
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"Matches with England always have a
special atmosphere, like last year's senior World Cup final, and
today was no exception.
"Emily played a great game which meant that all the pressure was on
Karim.
"And I am so pleased for him because he just missed out on being
able to play in the world junior championship by two days. He
deserves to be in a world final - he's a quality player."
Egypt coach |
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