Ghosal, Pallikal top seeds in National Squash C'ships

Saurav Ghosal and Dipika Pallikal will be the top seeds in the men's and women's sections respectively in the 59th Senior National Squash Championships, scheduled to be held here from December 5 to 10.

The competition, which will see a record 242 players compete for top honours, will miss last year's winner of the women's title Joshna Chinappa, who is recovering after an ACL surgery.

Ghosal is the defending champion in the men's section, which have 16 players in the main draw. The women's section will have 32 in the main draw.

"For the first time, we have received an entry of 16 for the women's category in the national event and a whopping 117 men have entered the fray in qualifying, which would be held on December 5 and 6," Srivatsan Subramaniam, Secretary Squash Rackets Federation of India, said in a press release.

Other events that would be held concurrently at the Nationals would be men's Master's categories (over 35, 40, 45, 50 and 55) and those between professional, full-time coaches.

The total prize money for the event would be Rs 5,67,500 and the winners in men's and women's sections would be richer by Rs One lakh and Rs 40,000 respectively.

The victorious professional coach would win Rs 50,000 and the winner of each of the Master's categories would win Rs 10,000.