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Ghosal to face Khalifa in quarters
Fourth seed and current world No 24 Saurav Ghosal will take on world junior champion Amr Khaled Khalifa of Egypt in Friday's quarter-finals at the Kolkata International PSA squash meet.
Fourth seed and current world No 24 Saurav Ghosal will take on world junior champion Amr Khaled Khalifa of Egypt in Friday's quarter-finals at the Kolkata International PSA squash meet.
At the Calcutta Racket Club on Thursday, Ghosal cruised past Bradley Hindle of Malta in 49 minutes. Khalifa, on the other hand, dropped the opening game against fellow qualifier Ivan Yuen of Malaysia but then came back strongly after taking time out for an injury.
Ghosal was pushed in the first two games by the 11th seed Hindle and needed 'strokes' at crucial points to get the games to deuce. He then did what he had said all along about taking on higher ranked opponents: "Play the crucial points well."
In the third game Ghosal seemed in the zone as he quickly took an 8-0 lead. He wrapped it up 11-2.
On the other court, Khalifa, one of the six Egyptians in the main draw including the top two seeds Karim Darwish and Omar Mosaad, looked out of sorts in the first game. Down 4-5 in the second, he caught opponent Yuen's racquet in his knee and limped out of the court. The 18-year-old took a 15-minute break before returning all guns blazing. Although looking lethargic at times, he kept finding the angles and came up with winners from the back court.
