Sport

Pakistan blanks India

— Photo: V. Ganesan

FIGHTING DISPLAY: Pakistan’s Amir Atlas Khan has reason to celebrate as he had to dig deep to get past India’s Saurav Ghosal.

CHENNAI: Excitement was brief but as long as it lasted the India-Pakistan encounter in the ICL-World men’s team squash championship at the ICL Academy courts here on Friday lived up to its reputation.

If India had plans of an upset it did not come about as Pakistan completed a 3-0 win. The scoreline, however, does no justice to India’s display. It could have been a different tale had the final moments of the deciding fifth game in the Saurav Ghosal-Amir Atlas Khan match gone in favour of the Indian.

That match was the pick of the tie for the intensity, the fluctuating fortunes and for the tremendous fight by Saurav.

This young Indian National champion had a handful of fans egging him on. And as it happened his best was reserved for when the chips were down. Two games in arrears, match ball situation (10-8) with defeat written all over, came the sudden development, a flash turnaround.

Saurav slipped. Holding his left knee he limped out and many feared the worst as medical attention was sought. The Pakistani, ranked 28th in the World and several rungs above Saurav, waited impatiently.

Saurav returned to the court within minutes, looking better and, as it turned out, a dramatically transformed player. Strokes flowed freely from his racquet where tentativeness characterised his play earlier.

Saurav, much to the excitement of the gathering around the centre court, was able to grab the third game to keep his hopes alive. When he pocketed the next, there were signs of an upset.

By a strange coincidence at the same 10-8 score in the fifth game in Amir’s favour, play was interrupted again.

This time for Amir to change his racquet. But fortune did not swing Saurav’s way on resumption this time. He narrowed down the lead to 9-10 but it ended there with an attempted drop shot taking the tin.

“I will say Amir was lucky. He seemed to relax a little when closing out the match point in the third game. Somehow he was able to win,” said coach Fahim Khan, praising Saurav for his great effort.

Maj. S. Maniam, the Indian team manager said, “Amir had initially made a fast moving Saurav look slow because of his all-round efficiency. When Saurav wriggled out to play his natural game, things changed. It would have been great had India grabbed a match,” he said.

Amir’s win gave Pakistan a winning 2-0 lead after Farhan Mehboob had earlier quelled Siddharth Suchde’s challenge. A fluid mover, Farhan took time to settle down which gave the lanky Siddharth room to exploit and make headway.

The Pakistani lost the first game but not the grip over the match, though his frequent show of disappointment over ‘let calls’ took a little sheen away from his otherwise superior display.

In the third singles, Ritwik Bhattacharya, with little at stake, fell to Manzoor Zaman.

With one match to go (against Kenya), India should finish second in this Pool (G) and would hope to meet Netherlands or Wales in the last sixteen round. “Both are tough opponents,” said Maj Maniam.

Among the other matches, except Malaysia, which was harried by South Africa, all others went on expected lines.

The seeded teams are all on course to the next phase and on Saturday the top two sides from each pool will be decided. Malaysia needed the experience of Mohd. Azlan Bin Iskander and Ong Beng Hee to ensure victory after the No. 3 player Mohd. Nafizwan, who played first as per the playing order, was beaten by his South African counterpart Adnin Hansin.

The results: Pool A: Finland bt Russia 3-0; Egypt bt Germany 3-0; Pool B: England bt Spain 3-0; Pool C: Japan bt Venezuela 3-0; France bt USA 3-0; Pool D: Australia bt Scotland 3-0. Pool E: Kuwait bt Sri Lanka 3-0; Malaysia bt South Africa 2-1. Pool F: Canada bt Austria 3-0. Pool G: Pakistan bt India 3-0 (Farhan Mehboob bt Siddharth Suchde 8-11, 12-10, 11-5, 11-5; Amir Atlas Khan bt Saurav Ghosal 12-10, 11-6, 11-13, 6-11, 11-9; Mansoor Zaman bt Ritwik Bhattacharya 11-6, 11-9, 11-3); Kenya bt Bermuda 3-0. Pool H: Wales bt Chinese Taipei 3-0; Netherlands bt Sweden 3-0.

© Copyright 2000 - 2009 The Hindu