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Hero Sandhu Celebrates First Indian Circuit Success
#PSAWorldTour
Harinder Pal Sandhu
provided surprise home success in the inaugural
JSW PSA Indian Circuit 1
when he
upset top seed
Mahesh Mangaonkar
in the all-Indian final of the
PSA Challenger 10
squash event at the
Jaipur Club
in
Jaipur.
It was just a week after the pair led
India
to an historic
Asian Games
team gold medal in South Korea that Sandhu and Mangaonkar returned
to individual pursuits on the
PSA World Tour
in Jaipur – both dismissing English opponents in the semi-finals to
set up the dream climax.
For both players, the success led them to their seventh PSA World
Tour finals – 20-year-old Mangaonkar marking his fourth of the year,
and third seed Sandhu, 25, from Chennai, looking to end a five-year
title drought.
"The pair faced off in front of a packed house,"
reported Circuit Director
Liesl Goecker.
"While Mangaonkar had the length, Sandhu returned brilliant shot
after brilliant shot, stumping Mangaonkar in a quick three-game
match."
World No.56 Mangaonkar briefly led in the third game.
"But Sandhu knew the title was his,"
continued Goecker.
"After some superb squash and lightning retrievals, a hard boast
from Sandhu brought the game to 8-2, his lead. At 10-6, Sandhu
served for the match and became the champion of the first JSW
Challenger tournament in Jaipur!"
Sandhu (pictured below, left, with Mangaonkar) , ranked 31 places
lower than his Indian team-mate, was delighted with his 11-5, 11-5,
11-6 title triumph after 65 minutes:
"It feels great. It's exactly one year since I lost to Mahesh on
this same court at the senior nationals.
"This court is a very hot spot. I knew I would need to keep my
basic game tight, don't be headstrong, just hang in there and give
it all up."
The win marks the third PSA World Tour title of Sandhu's career.
