Doha (Qatar): India’s Saurav Ghosal and Ramit Tandon made it to the second round of the Qatar Classic Squash Championship, registering emphatic wins in the PSA World Tour Platinum tournament at the Khalifa International Tennis and Squash Complex on Sunday.
Ghosal beat Balazs Farkas of Hungary in 39 minutes to advance to the next round. The World No. 17 started on a shaky note in the first game but recovered in quick time to take the first game 11-6. He followed in the same streak to pocket the second game 11-8.
However, in the third game, the Hungarian made Ghosal toil for every point and tied at 11-all but the Indian top-ranked player broke free to take the third and deciding game and win in straight games.
Tandon got past David Baillargeon of Canada in three games to one and qualified for the second round.
He took the first two games in his stride to win it at identical scores of 11-5 but dropped the third game at 11-9, but then came back strongly to win the fourth 11-5 and won the match in 41 minutes.
Ghosal and Tandon are the only two Indians in the fray in the one-week-long tournament which features the top players in both the men’s and women’s sections.
The women’s event is returning to Qatar after a gap of eight years and was last staged in 2015.
—IANS