Ever since his breakthrough victory as a budding player in the German Open (U-17) a decade ago, squash player Saurav Ghosal has been on a record-setting spree that has seen him scale one peak after another.
He became the first Indian to win the coveted British Junior Open (U-19) way back in 2004, the first Indian to be ranked Junior World No 1 and the first to bag a squash medal for the country at the 2006 Asian Games, Doha.
Last year, the 26-year-old Ghosal added another feather to his cap with a brilliant win in the Windy City Open -- his biggest PSA title - before becoming the first Indian to reach the last-16 stage of the World Championship. During a visit to Bangalore to compete in an invitation tournament, Ghosal talked to Deccan Herald about the season gone by, the forthcoming one and his plans.
Excerpts:
You started and ended 2012 on a high note. You won the Windy City Open in Chicago in February before capturing the National Championships for the eighth time. However, in between you didn't taste much success. How do you sum up 2012?
Yeah, the start and end was great but I wouldn't say the middle wasn't that good. Every match that I lost in big events was to a top-5 player. My performances were pretty good as it is not easy to beat these (top-5) guys and I'm getting close. The best part of the season came in the Qatar PSA World Championship where I became the first Indian to reach the last-16. I also reached the last-16 in other big events as well. Moreover, I didn't play too many small events. I played, may be, two $ 25,000 events. I chose to compete in top events, so that's why I had just one international title. I wanted to play against the top guys frequently and obviously I would have liked to beat them more often. There are areas that I need to work upon and I'm very confident of the new season.
Your goal for 2012 was to break into the top-20 and you nearly achieved it by reaching 22. Is breaking into the top-10 your next goal?
I think it's better to take one step at a time. Once I eventually break into top-20, I would then like to break into top-15 and then aim for top-10. The rankings work on averages and points. The average difference between a player ranked 10th and 20th is huge but not so much between a player ranked 10 and 15. So, once you progress into the top-15, you can think of breaking into the top-10. Having said that, rankings is something that you can't control. But what you can control is playing well and winning matches. As long as you keep winning the higher you are going to climb.
Ever since your rise as Junior World No 1 in 2002, you've been carrying the nation's hopes in the men's section single-handedly. Does the pressure affect you?
I don't feel the pressure. I've been India No 1 for a while now and when I go play abroad all that is almost non-existent. All I want to do is stay focused and enjoy the match that I'm competing. Because, if I don't enjoy I'm not going to play well, and if I don't play well then I'm going to lose. To be India No 1 is great, but the feeling of being a top-10 player in the world is much better. That's what I aiming at.
Barring you, there is not much talent in the country in the men's section. Siddharth Suche is ranked 48 in the world while Harendra Pal Sandhu is way below at 80. In comparison, the women's game appears very healthy with Dipika Pallikal and Joshna Chinnappa inside top-30. Your thoughts...
To be honest, the men's game is really difficult. I'm not taking anything away from what Dipika and Joshna have achieved -- it's fabulous -- but to stay competitive in the men's tour is extremely difficult. Firstly, Siddhart and Harendra don't get to play too many international events, especially the big ones. Secondly, the amount of PSA players in the men's game is far higher as compared to women. The competition is just so high that one needs to be on top of their game always. However, Harendra and Siddharth have been doing well recently and I see progressing higher soon.
While squash has brought about its fair share of success to India, it is still not that popular. Your comments...
There are many reasons for that. I do have many ideas to make it popular but I don't have time to implement them as I'm busy playing. The game needs to be marketed well and needs to reach out to people. We have so many sports channels to chose from nowadays as all that we need to do is get the feed from PSA Squash TV and air it in one of them. Also, schools need to set up squash courts as it does not take much space.
Journey to the top of a sport starts at childhood. We also need to increase the number of tournaments in the country.
He became the first Indian to win the coveted British Junior Open (U-19) way back in 2004, the first Indian to be ranked Junior World No 1 and the first to bag a squash medal for the country at the 2006 Asian Games, Doha.
Last year, the 26-year-old Ghosal added another feather to his cap with a brilliant win in the Windy City Open -- his biggest PSA title - before becoming the first Indian to reach the last-16 stage of the World Championship. During a visit to Bangalore to compete in an invitation tournament, Ghosal talked to Deccan Herald about the season gone by, the forthcoming one and his plans.
Excerpts:
You started and ended 2012 on a high note. You won the Windy City Open in Chicago in February before capturing the National Championships for the eighth time. However, in between you didn't taste much success. How do you sum up 2012?
Yeah, the start and end was great but I wouldn't say the middle wasn't that good. Every match that I lost in big events was to a top-5 player. My performances were pretty good as it is not easy to beat these (top-5) guys and I'm getting close. The best part of the season came in the Qatar PSA World Championship where I became the first Indian to reach the last-16. I also reached the last-16 in other big events as well. Moreover, I didn't play too many small events. I played, may be, two $ 25,000 events. I chose to compete in top events, so that's why I had just one international title. I wanted to play against the top guys frequently and obviously I would have liked to beat them more often. There are areas that I need to work upon and I'm very confident of the new season.
Your goal for 2012 was to break into the top-20 and you nearly achieved it by reaching 22. Is breaking into the top-10 your next goal?
I think it's better to take one step at a time. Once I eventually break into top-20, I would then like to break into top-15 and then aim for top-10. The rankings work on averages and points. The average difference between a player ranked 10th and 20th is huge but not so much between a player ranked 10 and 15. So, once you progress into the top-15, you can think of breaking into the top-10. Having said that, rankings is something that you can't control. But what you can control is playing well and winning matches. As long as you keep winning the higher you are going to climb.
Ever since your rise as Junior World No 1 in 2002, you've been carrying the nation's hopes in the men's section single-handedly. Does the pressure affect you?
I don't feel the pressure. I've been India No 1 for a while now and when I go play abroad all that is almost non-existent. All I want to do is stay focused and enjoy the match that I'm competing. Because, if I don't enjoy I'm not going to play well, and if I don't play well then I'm going to lose. To be India No 1 is great, but the feeling of being a top-10 player in the world is much better. That's what I aiming at.
Barring you, there is not much talent in the country in the men's section. Siddharth Suche is ranked 48 in the world while Harendra Pal Sandhu is way below at 80. In comparison, the women's game appears very healthy with Dipika Pallikal and Joshna Chinnappa inside top-30. Your thoughts...
To be honest, the men's game is really difficult. I'm not taking anything away from what Dipika and Joshna have achieved -- it's fabulous -- but to stay competitive in the men's tour is extremely difficult. Firstly, Siddhart and Harendra don't get to play too many international events, especially the big ones. Secondly, the amount of PSA players in the men's game is far higher as compared to women. The competition is just so high that one needs to be on top of their game always. However, Harendra and Siddharth have been doing well recently and I see progressing higher soon.
While squash has brought about its fair share of success to India, it is still not that popular. Your comments...
There are many reasons for that. I do have many ideas to make it popular but I don't have time to implement them as I'm busy playing. The game needs to be marketed well and needs to reach out to people. We have so many sports channels to chose from nowadays as all that we need to do is get the feed from PSA Squash TV and air it in one of them. Also, schools need to set up squash courts as it does not take much space.
Journey to the top of a sport starts at childhood. We also need to increase the number of tournaments in the country.