Ritwik not included in Commonwealth Games squash team

Former India number one Ritwik Bhattacharya was on Monday left out of the 10-member Indian squash team for the upcoming Commonwealth Games to be held in Delhi from October 3-14.

After a meeting of its selection committee in Chennai, the Squash Rackets Federation of India (SRFI) decided to drop Ritwik from the squad which will be spearheaded by Sourav Ghosal and Joshna Chinappa.

According to an SRFI statement, the squad also features promising Dipika Pallikal and Siddharth Suchde.

"Ritwik himself had opted out of the singles event. He had expressed his willingness to play only in the doubles. But because of his recent poor form and string of injuries the federation decided to drop him," national coach Cyrus Poncha said.

In the Delhi Games, the squash competition will feature five events - singles (men and women), doubles (men and women) and mixed doubles.

Since first appearance at the Commonwealth Games in Kuala Lumpur in 1998, India has been an under-achiever in the sport.

"India has never won a Commonwealth Games medal. We do hope this year we shall be able to change this record," said Poncha.

SRFI secretary general Srivatsan Subramaniam said, "We are grateful to the Sports Ministry and International Sports Division for their scheme for preparation of athletes for the Commonwealth Games. We are confident this will be of immense help to all the sports."

Squad:

Men: Saurav Ghosal, Siddharth Suchde, Harinder Pal Singh Sandhu, Sandeep Jangra, Gaurav Nandrajog.

Women: Joshna Chinappa, Dipika Pallikal, Anaka Alankamony, Anwesha Reddy, Surbhi Misra.

Officials: Subramaniam Singaraveloo, Cyrus Poncha, Baskar Balamurugan, Gautam Das.