India’s campaign at squash Worlds ends
Ali Farag overcame Indian qualifier Veer Chotrani in a tough PSA World Championships match, showcasing the gap between top pros and Indian challengers.
Mumbai: In the middle of his fourth game at the PSA World Championships on Sunday, Ali Farag turned to his coach Karim Darwish and “asked him if I was playing against Ramy Ashour!”
Ashour is regarded as among the greatest squash players ever. Farag, though, was playing Indian qualifier Veer Chotrani. Farag is the top seed chasing his fifth Worlds gold. Chotrani, ranked 57, has one match victory at the Worlds. The unfancied Indian took the first game, ran him close in the second and led 10-8 in the fourth. Farag’s experience and class though made the difference in the end as he came through 7-11, 11-7, 11-3, 12-10 in a second-round contest that was a mismatch on paper but hardly so on the court.
“I told him (Chotrani) after the match that I’ve not been outplayed like that in a long time,” Farag told PSA.
The defeat, fighting as it was, reflected the current gulf between some of the world’s top squash pros and the Indian challengers. Ramit Tandon, India’s top-ranked pro, overcame a two-game deficit to drag world No.7 Marwan Elshorbagy into the decider yet lost 9-11, 7-11, 11-5, 11-8, 8-11. Teen Anahat Singh took a game off 15th-ranked Egyptian Fayrouz Aboelkheir but went down 7-11, 11-8, 4-11, 3-11. Abhay Singh was also beaten by world No.13 Youssef Ibrahim of Egypt 11-6, 11-6, 11-9.
That brought to an end India’s campaign in Chicago that began with two debutants in Anahat and Chotrani upsetting seeds and four Indians advancing but ended soon running into top-15 opponents.
For the experienced Tandon, it was yet another exit before making the Round of 16 while for Anahat and Chotrani, it was a firsthand experience of top-level squash. Anahat, who will also turn up at the junior World Championships this year, hadn’t competed with players of this caliber yet. This will not only give the 17-year-old a glimpse of the challenge ahead in her pro career but also the work to be done.
Chotrani, 23, came into his Worlds only by virtue of winning the Asian qualifying tournament and with a nothing-to-lose attitude. The Cornell University graduate knocked out world No.28 Declan James before giving Farag the kind of fight few have managed to give him in recent times.
“I was on the receiving end in that fourth game and for most of the first game and a half too,” Farag said. “All credit to him and I’m very proud to get through. He lived in Egypt for a bit back in the day and I played with him when I was younger. I followed him a little bit at Cornell, but I wasn’t watching him... He was consistent too, I thought a few winners would come off and then he would hold back a little bit, but he never did.”
