JOIN USGhosal storms into quarters
Saurav Ghosal etched his name into the history books by becoming the first Indian to reach the quarterfinals of the AJ Bell PSA World Squash Championship.
World No 17 Ghosal came from two games down to record a famous win over 40th-ranked Henrik Mustonen of Finland in a thrilling pre-quarterfinal on Wednesday. The final score read 5-11, 8-11, 11-8, 11-4, 11-2.
He faces World No 1 Ramy Ashour of Egypt in the quarterfinals on Thursday night.
“Personally for me it’s a massive achievement. It was really an emotional win considering the significance of the contest. It’s huge to be in there in the last eight with the world’s best players,” Ghosal, who is lone unseeded player left in the draw, said.
“To come from 0-2 down, dig deep, and come back was very pleasing as well, especially as Henrik was playing some amazing squash.”
Ghosal’s previous tournament best was a round-of-16 finish in 2012. Victory against Mustonen followed triumphs over number 15th ranked Alister Walker of Botswana and England’s Joe Lee. “Hopefully, this achievement will give some motivation to Indian players,” said the eight-time national Champion.
Results (pre-quarterfinals): 1-Ramy Ashour (Egy) bt 14-Cameron Pilley (Aus) 9-11, 11-8, 11-4, 12-10; Saurav Ghosal (Ind) bt Henrik Mustonen (Fin) 5-11, 8-11, 11-8, 11-4, 11-2; 8-Amr Shabana (Egy) bt 16-Miguel Angel Rodriguez (Col) 11-6, 11-5, 11-9; 4-Nick Matthew (Eng) bt 11-Omar Mosaad (Egy) 11-4, 11-7, 11-13, 11-4; 3-James Willstrop (Eng) bt 9-Borja Golan (Esp) 11-4, 11-8, 11-6; 6-Mohamed Elshorbagy (Egy) bt 12-Simon Rosner (Ger) 11-1, 11-9, 11-7; 13-Daryl Selby (Eng) bt 5-Karim Darwish (Egy) 4-11, 11-9, 12-10, 8-11, 11-8; 2-Gregory Gaultier (Fra) bt 10-Tarek Momen (Egy) 11-5, 11-6, 11-6.