Ghosal ranks among the greats

Saurav Ghosal must rank among the Indian sporting greats. On Sunday evening at the Otters Club, Bandra, he won the 73rd senior National squash championship, a record 11th men’s title, against Harinder Pal Singh Sandhu. The record stood for 60 years.

The 29-year-old, born and raised in Kolkata, and trained at the Indian Squash Academy in Chennai, chose squash that’s generally played in elite clubs in the cities.

The sport is blessed with some greats such as R.K. Narpat Singh, who won the National title 10 times without a break from 1946, Anil Nayyar, Maj. Raj Manchanda, Meherwan Daruwala, Adrian Ezra, Arjan Singh and Ritwik Bhattacharya.

Ghosal won the senior National title for the first time in 2004 and clinched it nine times more before leaving R.K. Narpat Singh to the second position with an 11th win.

For all his show of individual brilliance on Sunday, Ghosal was so uncertain of his ability to regain health and play competitive squash after his second round loss to Egyptian Marwan El Shorbagy in the British Open last March. An ankle injury nearly crippled his career.

“It’s the most serious injury I have ever had. I had to pull out of the Asian championship also. I went to England, took injections on the bone which was painful.

“The surgeons were very optimistic. I had no cartilage left in the right ankle joint. So they had to drill the bone and make it bleed. Even that was not a foolproof method. I thought I would be out for a year.

“The surgeon recommended injections and that too was no guarantee. I was not sure, a month ago, as to when I would be able to come back and play pain free.

“I don’t think I played the best I could against Vikram Malhotra; he was superb and unbelievable. I just dug it out from the hole. It was a great escape. It was my first proper match (against Vikram) since March. Today I had to be mentally strong and play extremely well to get out. My ankle is a bit stiff, but it doesn’t hurt,” said Ghosal.

Ghosal attributed his return to rehab and hard training. “It was three and a half months of no match. I have been training hard for six to eight weeks, but you cannot replicate match sharpness with training. I keep asking Ramy Ashour (World No. 12 now) how he keeps doing it.

“He comes back after seven months and wins the World Open. Obviously we are not at his level yet. There was a lot of pace and length changes from me and I knew what I was doing with the ball.

“I was under pressure. I tried a lot; some came off and some did not. But at least I had the courage to do it and I found a way to get it done. I am happy that I did it.”

Ghosal said he was proud of winning the title a record 11th time. “To win once is hard. I did not win the junior title till I was 15. I lost three before winning it. Then I was lucky enough to win three under-19s.

“Growing in the sport it was just about being a National champion. The record is there. It’s mine now. I am extremely proud.

“But I tell a lot of kids and others that’s it’s a myopic thinking to say that they want to be junior National champion and senior National champion.

“Well, 20 or 30 years from now, I want people to remember me as the first one to make the top 20 and top 10 or top 5. I will be more proud of that than this,” said Ghosal.