Saurav Ghosal and Ritwik Bhattacharya are a step away from entering the main draw of the British Open Squash Championships after advancing to the finals of the qualifiers in Manchester.
Eight players will go through to the main draw.
National champion Ghosal, having recovered from a minor thigh strain, took just 33 minutes to get the better of Alan Clyne of Scotland 11-7, 11-7, 11-6 in his qualifying opener of the prestigious event, which has prize-money in excess of US $100,000.
The 21-year-old will now take on Australian Aaron Frankcomb, who defeated Malaysia's Nafiizwan Adnan 11-5, 11-3, 13-11.
"I was hitting the ball well, my drops were good, but I was still making a few errors, which I wasn't doing at the start of the summer before my injury. But my leg's better now so it's just about getting match-sharp again," the Arjuna awardee said after the match.
Bhattacharya, on the other hand had to a toil a bit in his match against The Netherlands' Tom Hoevenaars.
The 27-year-old, playing his first major international tournament after a lengthy lay off due to a knee injury, survived minor hiccups to come through 11-9, 15-13, 11-6 in 42 minutes.
Bhattacharya is up against Italian Davide Bianchetti, who outplayed local favourite Eddie Charlton 11-3, 11-5, 11-4.
"I was out for three-four months, I just enjoy playing my squash now. This is my third tournament back and I am not putting any pressure on myself," he said.
Meanwhile, in the women's qualifying draw, national champion Joshna Chinappa will take on local Fiona Moverley in the opening round later on Wednesday.
