Mumbai: Playing an attacking brand of squash, Harinder Pal Sandhu shocked defending champion and 13-time winner Sourav Ghosal to clinch his maiden men's title in the Senior Nationals at the Cricket Club of India here today.
Third seed Sandhu looked in top flight as he took a commanding 2-0 lead and was 6-2 up in the third when Ghosal, ranked 18th in the world, led a comeback to take the third and fourth games and forced a decider.
However, Sandhu - ranked 60th in the world - fought his way back from 7-9 in the fifth game to draw level at 9-all and then took the last two points in style to complete a memorable 11-2 11-9 9-11 8-11 11-9 victory in 74 minutes.
It was not only the Chandigarh-born, Chennai-based Sandhu's maiden national title but it also came after he registered his first-ever win over his close friend, Kolkata-born Ghosal
It was Ghosal's first loss in nine years in the nationals and he said, "He played superbly and if at all it had to happen I am happy it happened against him as he's my best friend."
The women's final, in total contrast, was a tame affair as title holder Joshana Chinnappa brushed aside the challenge from Sachika Ingale 11-3 11-3 11-6 in only 22 minutes to clinch her 13th title in 14 finals, her only loss coming against now-retired Mekhla Subedar in 2011.
The men's final was a class affair between the long-time number one India player and his strongest challenger and gave an indication that there is a change of guard at the top.
Sandhu, who is leaving tonight to take part in the Asian Beach Games in Thailand, looked unstoppable in the first game as he took a 10-0 lead before Ghosal earned his first point.
The younger rival jumped to a 4-0 and 7-2 lead in the second before Ghosal, who had won the Asian Games team gold at Incheon with his opponent, fought his way back.
The lead was narrowed to 8-10 before Sandhu won it to take a 2-0 lead.
