Asia number one and tournament top seed Saurav Ghosal snatched defeat from the jaws of victory after squandering a commanding 2-0 lead against Abdullah Al Muzayen in the men’s singles squash final and disappointingly settled for the silver medal at the Asian Games here on Tuesday.
The Indian world no. 16 led his 5-8 seeded Kuwaiti rival 12-10, 11-2 when Abdullah came up a stunning turnaround to turn the tables on Ghosal for the gold.
Abdullah, ranked 46th in the world but considered to be among the rising stars, produced top drawer stuff when he was down and out for the count to manage a 10-12, 2-11, 14-12, 11-8, 11-9 win.
The victory stunned the Indian camp, and the player especially, into deep despair, notwithstanding that it was country’s first ever silver from the squash courts in Games history.
Abdullah hustled and bustled around the court to catch the Indian on the wrong side of the court with stunning winners, especially from back of the court.
After showing his qualities as a top player in the opening game which he lost, Abdullah conceded the second game without a fight to conserve himself in the bruising 88-minute-long encounter.
The match was replete with thrilling rallies as well as some questionable line calls, a majority of them going against the Indian when the Kuwaiti was staging his fight back.
