Our confidence is up after Asian Games display: Harpinder Pal Sandhu

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Sandhu was part of the Indian squad that lifted the gold medal in Incheon, defeating Malaysia 2-0 in the team final.

The Chandigarh-born, Chennai-based Sandhu had stepped on the court first and given India a flying start by outclassing Iskandar Mohamad Azlan Bin 3-1 in 58 minutes before Saurav Ghosal sealed the gold medal with a hard-fought 3-2 win in 88 minutes over Malaysia’s Ong Beng Hee.

With India wrapping up the tie, Mahesh Mangaonkar was not needed to play his game against Mohd Adnan Mohd Nafiizwan Bin.

The confidence-boost that Sandhu got in the Incheon Asiad helped him in taming Ghosal for the first time in the subsequent nationals at the Cricket Club of India court here last November in the title contest and he also won the Christchurch International Open title in June this year.

Sandhu had also done well in the run-up to the Asiad by winning three out of the four events in the inaugural JSW circuit season and he hopes he could replicate it in the current season.

“I could win three out of four events last year. This year the competition is tougher but I will try my best. Every year the profile of the circuit is going up. It also helps a lot in playing in familiar home conditions. I have also prepared hard,” said Sandhu, who stayed and practised in the US (Florida)-based academy of former Australian world number 1 David Palmer for four weeks prior to the new PSA season.

Ritwik Bhattacharya, PSA’s Indian representative and a former national champion, said that Ghosal – who has again climbed to his career-best world ranking of 15 this week – will play in the two USD 35,000 PSA events to be held at the CCI here from September 8-13 and in Kolkata later this month.

“Saurav can break into the top ten if he wins both and he will be seeded no. 1 in the CCI tournament,” he said.

“The last event in Chennai (in October) will be a USD 10,000 event for both men and women,” Bhattacharya added.

Mangaonkar, men’s world no. 52, and national women’s champion Joshana Chinappa, globally ranked 24th by the Women’s Squash Association, are the third seeds in the NSCI Open in their respective sections.

Adrian Waller of England, ranked 26th in the world, heads the men’s seeding followed by Raphael Kandra (world no. 43) of Germany while Egypt’s Habiba Mohamed – world no. 25 – tops the women’s seedings while Hong Kong’s Joey Chan (world no. 29) is seeded no.2.

Wild cards have been given to India’s Kush Kumar, among men, and Sachika Ingale, among women.

The entire circuit carries a total prize fund of USD 120,000, double of what was offered last year.

Waller said the Indian circuit was a good event for the players to gear up for the PSA season after the break.

“For a lot of us here, it’s a good way to start the season after the summer break. The men’s winner will get 265 ranking points while the runner up will pick up 175 points,” he said.