Saurav Ghosal (born 10 August 1986) is an Indian former squash player. He reached a career-high ranking of World No. 10 in April 2019. He won the first ever squash medal for India, a bronze in the singles and mixed doubles at the Commonwealth Games.[1]
Career overview
editIn 2013, Ghosal became the first Indian to reach the Quarter finals of the World Squash Championship at Manchester, England.[2] In 2004, he became the first Indian ever to win the coveted British Junior Open Under-19 Squash title, defeating Adel El Said of Egypt in the final at Sheffield, England.
Ghosal moved to Chennai after completing his school and was based at the ICL squash academy in Chennai and coached by Major (Rtd) Maniam and Cyrus Poncha in Chennai, India. Currently based in Leeds, he trains with Malcolm Willstrop at Pontefract Squash Club in West Yorkshire. Saurav is the current Indian national champion after he defeated Gaurav Nandrajog at the National Championships 2006 in New Delhi. As of May 2010,[update] his PSA world rank is 27. In the top 100 in the world are two of his Indian Squash Colleagues Siddharth Suchde (80) and Harinder Pal Sandhu (90).
Ghosal won the bronze medal at the Asian Games 2006 Doha and was awarded the Arjuna Award by the President of India in August 2007, thus becoming the first squash player from the country to get the award.
Ghosal started playing squash in his hometown of Kolkata, at the Kolkata Racquet Club. He studied from the Lakshmipat Singhania Academy, before moving to Chennai to join the ICL Squash Academy. Here he was coached by retired Major Maniam and Cyrus Poncha.
Ghosal has numerous firsts to his credit, the first Indian to be ranked junior World No one, the first to bag the junior National championship three years in a row and in December 2006, he won the country the first medal in squash in the Doha Asian Games. His first major title was the German Open (U-17) in May 2002 and he won the Dutch Open two months later.[3]
In 2013, he became the first Indian squash player to reach the quarter-finals of the World Championship. In 2014, he won the silver medal (individual singles) in the 17th Asian Games at Incheon. He was the first Indian squash player to do so. He lost in the final to Abdullah Al-Muzayen of Kuwait. He however led the Indian Squash team to its first ever Gold Medal at Incheon. In the final he bounced back from a game down to eke out a 6-11 11-7 11-6 12-14 11-9 win over former world no. 7, Ong Beng Hee in a gruelling 88-minute clash to give India a healthy 2-0 lead.[4]
Ghosal also remains the first Indian player to claim a place in the world’s top 10 during the 2018-19 campaign.
Saurav Ghosal has been named as the Professional Squash Association’s (PSA) Men’s President as one of three new additions to the PSA’s Board of Directors, which were officially confirmed at the association’s annual AGM on Wednesday 22 December 2021.[5]
In August 2022, Ghosal became the first Indian men's squash singles medallist at the Birmingham Commonwealth Games after he beat 2018 reigning champion James Willstrop of England in straight sets in the bronze medal playoff to take the bronze medal. He defeated Shamil Wakeel of Sri Lanka 11-4, 11-4, 11-6 in the second round, beat David Baillargeon of Canada 11-6, 11-2, 11-6 in the third round. In the quarter-final, he recovered from a defeat in the second set to see off Scotland’s Greg Lobban 11-5, 8-11, 11-7, 11-3 before falling to New Zealand’s world no. 2 and eventual gold medallist Paul Coll 9-11, 4-11, 1-11 in the semi-final.
Personal life
editSaurav married Diya Pallikal (sister of Dipika Pallikal Karthik) on 1 February 2017.[6][7][8]
References
edit- ^ "National..." The Hindu.
- ^ "NDTV Sports article on Saurav Ghoshal in the World Championship, 2013". Archived from the original on 14 December 2013. Retrieved 31 October 2013.
- ^ "Deccan Herald article on Saurav Ghosal". Cyrus Poncha’s squash blog. Retrieved 29 December 2018.
- ^ PTI (27 September 2014). "Asiad: Men's squash team gets historic gold, women grab silver". The Hindu. Retrieved 29 December 2018.
- ^ psaworldtour (23 December 2021). "GHOSAL HEADS TRIO OF NEW ADDITIONS TO PSA BOARD".
- ^ "Saurav Ghosal gets hitched".
- ^ "Dipika Pallikal's sister is married to her shuttler friend Saurav Ghosal".
- ^ "Wedding and seeding in Ghosal balancing act".
External links
edit- Saurav Ghosal at the Professional Squash Association (archive) (archive 2)
- Saurav Ghosal at Squash Info
- Saurav Ghosal at the Commonwealth Games Federation (archived)
- Newspaper articles on Saurav's PSA Otters win
- Saurav's interview in DNA
- Articles on Saurav on Cyrus Poncha's squash Blog
- Rediff interview
- "Asiad: Men’s squash team gets historic gold, women grab silver"
