India's highest ranked squash player and World No 15 Saurav Ghosal and women's No 1 seed Joshna Chinappa toyed with their respective rivals to defend their titles successfully in the 38th Bombay Gymkhana-HSBC Maharashtra State Open Senior Squash Championship in Mumbai on Saturday.
Ghosal outclassed World No 80 and second seed Harinderpal Singh Sandhu in straight games 11-4, 11-6, 11-5 in the men's final that lasted 40 minutes to take home the winner's prize of Rs 1.3 lakh.
World No 26 Joshna thumped Aishwarya Bhattacharya, conqueror of second seed and last year's runner-up Urwashi Joshi in the semis, 11-1 11-1 11-3 in a lop-sided women's title clash that lasted just 20 minutes to win Rs 70,000.
The only time the Kolkata-based Ghosal, winner of the individual as well as team bronze at the last Asian Games in Guangzhou, looked in some bother was when he trailed 2-5 in the third game.
He then stepped up the pace of the rallies and won 9 points in a row, hitting a backhand winner from the fore court with his rival Harinderpal watching helplessly from the other side of the court, at match-ball to finish the job.
Ghosal said he and Harinderpal will take some rest before resuming his stint in the world pro circuit by taking part in the $ 115,000 tournament of champions, featuring the top 24 players, at New York starting January 17.
Joshna said she was keen to play in the tournament as it was through such tournaments in her formative years that she grew up in the sport.
Image: Saurav Ghosal
