Saurav, Ritwik start CWG build-up

With Commonwealth Games (CWG) in sight, two of India’s top squash players have already begun preparing. India No.1 Saurav Ghosal and No.2 Ritwik Bhattacharya were positive about the Games next year but didn’t expect things to come their way easily.

“I’ll try to be in the top 20 of the draw as it makes a huge difference to the sort of draw that I will get and I will be able to avoid the higher ranked players in the earlier rounds,” Saurav told DNA.

Saurav also felt that home support will surely help them but was wary about the courts. “It’s good to play at home, but we will not have the home advantage as the courts are still not ready… we hope to win at least one medal in the three categories we are competing,” he quipped.

Ritwik also felt India needs to build better infrastructure keeping in mind the CWG and the Asian Games. “The infrastructure is not close to good enough in India and everyone is pushing to go forward on their own as they have a love for the sport,” he opined.

Meanwhile, both Ritwik and Saurav won their respective quarterfinal matches in the HSBC-Bombay Gymkhana Maharashtra Open squash championship on Friday.

Results: Men: Saurav Ghosal beat Mahesh Mangaokar 11-7 13-11 11-4, Ritwik Bhattacharya beat Karm Kumar 11-5 11-3 9-11 11-7, Sahil Vora beat Navin Jangra 8-11 11-5 12-10 11-6; Girls U-17: Urwashi Joshi beat Kritika Kumar 11-4 11-3 11-4, Shria Khatri beat Varsha Pandey 11-4 11-3 9-11 11-5, Aishwarya Kulkarni beat Namrata Purohit 11-10 11-7 8-11 11-6, Saumya Karki beat Khushi Aggarwal 11-4 11-3 11-0