The Hindu : Sport / Squash : Sandhu wins second PSA title

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Sandhu wins second PSA title

Sports Reporter

— Photo: V. Ganesan

Fiona and Sandhu who won the WISPA and PSA titles respectively.

CHENNAI: Harinder Pal Singh Sandhu won his second PSA title on Saturday beating England’s James Snell in the Challenger event at the Indian Squash Academy here.

Englishwoman Fiona Moverley won the concurrent WISPA Challenger event, defeating top seed Siti Munirah Jusoh in the final.

Twenty-year-old Sandhu took care of second seed Snell’s challenge in three games over 38 minutes, chasing balls at full tilt, and regaining balance in time to smack winners past his opponent. Sandhu had beaten the top seed, Egypt’s Andrew Wagih Shoukry, in the semifinal on Friday.

The Indian began in emphatic fashion, hurrying to 9-4 in the first game, and the few points he squandered during the opening exchanges were attempted drop shots that found the tin. Snell put up a better fight in the next game, clawing to 10-10 from a dicey 4-7, but third seed Sandhu held his nerve through the long rallies that marked the business end of the second game to prevail 13-11.

With two games in the bag, Sandhu went for cheeky trick shots in the final game as a disappointed Snell plummeted to 0-7. And by the time the Englishman awoke to his situation, the damage was done.

In the women’s event, second seed Fiona Moverley made light of the loss of the opening game to put it across Malaysian Siti Munirah Jusoh. Fiona used her height advantage to telling effect, planting herself in the middle of the court and stretching on either side for retrieval. In a topsy-turvy fourth game, Fiona wasted three matchballs at 10-7, saved a couple of gameballs, and finally nailed it 14-12 in the tie-breaker to take the trophy.

Srivatsan Subramaniam, Secretary-General, SRFI, gave away the prizes.

The results: Indian Challenger: Finals: PSA: Harinder Pal Singh Sandhu bt James Snell (Eng) 11-6, 13-11, 11-7. WISPA: Fiona Moverley (Eng) bt Siti Munirah Jusoh (Mas) 10-12, 12-10, 11-4, 14-12.

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