Ghosal creates history; Dipika regains crown

Mumbai, Jul 18: Dipika Pallikal dethroned defending champion Joshna Chinappa to regain the women’s title in the 73rd Senior National Squash Championship here on Sunday.

The men’s crown was captured by title holder and top seed Saurav Ghosal, who created history by winning it for the 11th time, defeating fourth seed Harinderpal Singh Sandhu in five hard-fought games at the Otters Club.

Ghosal beat Sandhu 11-7, 7-11, 3-11, 11-8, 14-12 after an 88-minute battle to go past RK Narpat Singh’s feat of 10 titles, won from 1946 to 1955.

“We have played five national finals. We played well right through. There was very little to separate us. It’s hardest to play Harinder. It was one of the most enjoyable and high quality matches I have played,” said Ghosal after his triumph.

It was also his second successive five-game match after having got past third seed Vikram Malhotra in the semifinals on Saturday.

World No 19 Dipika, who was playing in the nationals after a five-year gap when she won in 2011, made it to the top once again by beating arch-rival Joshna 4-11, 11-6, 11-2, 11-8 in 43 minutes.