Less than a week ago, Harinder Pal Sandhu shocked observers by beating 13-time national champion Saurav Ghosal in the finals of the National Squash championships in Mumbai to secure his maiden national title. But for the 25-year old Mohali-born, Chennai-based player the title was just another feather in his cap in what has been a very successful year in the circuit.
Speaking about the national finals, Sandhu says, “It was always going to be tough to play Saurav in the National finals. I remember a couple of people asking me how many games I am going to win against him this time. Winning the Nationals means the world to me as it was one of the goals I had set as a child.”
Sandhu has been in a rich vein of form this year and helped India win the gold in Asian Games team event and won three PSA challenger events held out of the four in India winning in Mumbai, Jaipur and Chennai. “Winning the Asian Games team Gold had been a long-time goal for me and Saurav. We had been aiming it for more than four years.
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“A lot of hard work and sacrifices had been made from us to make the team gold medal a reality.”
He attributed his recent success to good planning saying, “I have been working hard a lot physically for the last one year. I knew that it was going to be long year with Asian Senior Championships, Commonwealth Games, Asian Games and Senior Nationals, so I didn't want to lag behind on the physics aspect of it.” To cap it off Sandhu also reached a career high singles ranking of 60 earlier this month after his challenger win in Chennai.
Sandhu first took to squash in Yadavindra Public School in his hometown in Mohali. “I was 9-10 years old when Mr. A.I Singh, my first coach, taught me how to hold the racket. As squash was in our regular sports curriculum in school he selected me in the regular sports selection.” Within two-years Sandhu won his first major junior title winning the Scottish junior open in Scotland in the under-13 category.
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With better infrastructure like the Indian Squash Academy located in Chennai, Sandhu decided to pack his bags and head down south in 2003. “My move was only based on my squash training and career. My parents never moved with me to Chennai. For my first four years I lived with a family friend Mr. Vijay Agarwal and his family. It is because of him that I could stay in Chennai and pursue my career. He treated me like his own son and helped with my schooling and squash career. It's because of them I stayed in Chennai.”
Sandhu spent close to five years at ISA under coaches like Major S. Maniam, Cyrus Poncha, Balamurugan, Hari Om Tripathi to name a few.
Commenting on the national champion’s recent form, Maniam, who is the Technical Consultant for Squash Rackets Federation of India, and Director of Coaching, Asian Squash Federation, says, “We worked relentlessly on three areas. His lengths, volleys and drops. Over a period of time these three areas have improved tremendously. Coupled with his improving fitness and strength he is playing the best squash ever.”
However, a major turning point in his career, according to Sandhu is the time he spent in U.K. under the guidance of coach Malcolm Willstrop, that he says opened his eyes to the world of professional squash.
With a career high-ranking, Asian Games medal and the national title in his pocket, Sandhu, hopes to challenge the top players and climb up the ladder. (This is a fortnightly feature on the Chennai sporting scene)