Cyrus Poncha's squash blog: November 2005

Seedings for Men's World Team

The 2005 championships, which will be staged in Islamabad from 8-14 December, will feature teams representing 22 countries. Team lineup
The teams will be playing initially in six qualifying pools, before the top two teams in each pool progress to have a tilt at the title in the knockout stage of the tournament, while the remaining teams play off for places 13-22.

The pool line-ups (with seeding in brackets) are:

Pool A: [1] England, [12] South Africa, [13/18] Kuwait, [19/22] Austria

Pool B: [2] Egypt, [11] New Zealand, [13/18] Germany, [19/22] Iran

Pool C: [3] France, [10] India, [13/18] Ireland

Pool D: [4] Australia, [9] Netherlands, [13/18] Finland, [19/22] USA

Pool E: [5] Canada, [8] Wales, [13/18] Hong Kong

Pool F: [6] Malaysia, [7] Pakistan, [13/18] Scotland, [19/22] Spain

Squad for the World Men’s Team

We are gearing up to participate in the 20th World Men’s Team championship to be held from 8th December to 14th December 2005 in Islamabad, Pakistan, and have been seeded 10th. The Team comprises Ritwik Bhattacharya (PSA Ranked 59), Saurav Ghosal (PSA Ranked 65), Siddharth Suchde (PSA Ranked 141) and Gaurav Nandrajog.

I will be the Coach while Maj (R) S. Maniam will be Manager of the team. The last time we participated in the World men’s team championship was 1995 when we attained 28th position.

India to host World Championships

The Squash Rackets Federation of India won the bid to conduct the 13th World Junior Women’s Squash championship in India in 2009. This was confirmed at the 35th Annual General Meeting of the World Squash Federation held at Costa Do Sauipe, Bahia, Brazil.

SRFI continues to give international exposure to our players. To achive this they will be hosting International events such as the World Men’s Team Championship in Dec 2006 and the 2009 Asian Junior Championship.

These events will be held at the ICL Squash Academy, Chennai due to the excellent facilities available. The Squash Rackets Federation of India had successfully conducted the World Junior Men in December 2002 and World Doubles in December 2004. It will be just a matter of time before the SRFI bids for the World Women’s Team event thus ensuring that we have organized the ‘grand slam of squash championships’ - Senior Men and Women Team Championships, Junior Men and Women Squash Championships.

National coach for these tournaments:

20th World Men Team Championship 2005, Islamabad, Pakistan 8 - 14 December 2005-India finish 11th

12th Asian Junior Squash Championships, Chennai, India 20-28 January 2005

2nd World Doubles Squash Championship, Chennai, India 13-17 December 2004

13th World Jr Men's Squash Championships, Islamabad, Pakistan 17 - 28 August 2004

12th Asian Senior Squash Championships, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia 10-26 June 2004

9th SAF Games, Islamabad, Pakistan 30th March - 6 April 2004

10th World Junior Women's Championships, Egypt, 17th to 28th August 2003

11th Asian Junior Squash Championship, Pakistan, 2nd to 8th Feb 2003

12th World Junior Men's Championships, India '02, 3rd to 14th Dec 2002

World Women's Team Championship, Denmark '02,

14th Asian Games, Busan, Korea '02

Asian Senior Squash Championship, Malaysia '02

9th World Junior Women's Championship, Penang, Malaysia, 15-28 July 2001

10th Asian Junior Squash Championship, Chennai, 17-24 February 2001

11th World Junior Men's Championship, Milan, Italy, 16-29 July 2000

10th Asian Senior Championship, Hong Kong, 5-12 July 2000

8th World Junior Women's Championship, Antwerp, Belgium, 1999

9th Asian Junior Championship, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, 24-31 January 1999

ICL Squash Academy, Chennai (Madras)

Tamil Nadu stands out as the most 'squash active' state in India. The ICL Squash Academy boasts of two complexes; one with 3 glass back rainbow courts and the other a state of the art centre with 4 glass back rainbow courts that are convertible to 2 doubles courts. The showcase of the centre is of course the latest ASB 4-sided glass court, which enables television coverage from all angles. It has a seating capacity of 500.

ICL Squash Academy

National players like Saurav, Gaurav, Parthiban, Joshna (until 2005), Vaidehi, Harinder, Anwesha, Dipika, Harita, Shibani etc have all trained under Major Maniam and me.
This facility compares with the best in the world and has already created two British Junior Open Champions and hopefully will produce many more in the years to come.

Hindu article on the Academy

Sportsstar article

National champs coached

Saurav Ghosal
2004 National Champion Men
2004 National Champion U-19
2003 National Champion U-17
2002 National Champion U-17
2001 National Champion U-17

Manish Chotrani
2000 National Champion Men

Anvesha Reddy
2005 National Champion U-19
2004 National Champion U-17
2003 National Champion U-13

Harinderpal Singh
2005 National Champion U-17
2003 National Champion U-15

Joshna Chinapa
2004 National Champion Women
2003 National Champion U-19
2002 National Champion U-19
2001 National Champion U-19

Alisha Mashruwala
2003 National Champion U-17
2001 National Champion U-17
1999 National Champion U-13

Harita Omprakash
2005 National Champion U-15
2004 National Champion U-13

A Anaka
2005 National Champion U-13

Shibani Philip
2003 National Champion U-15

Shruti Reddy
2002 National Champion U-15

Lithika Dugar
2005 National Champion U-11

Junaid Nathani
1999 National Champion U-17
1998 National Champion U-16

Vishal Raj Kapoor
2000 National Champion U-17
1997 National Champion U-14

Mihir Sheth
1998 National Champion U-14

Karanpal Sethi
1997 National Champion Boys U12

Vaidehi Reddy
2000 National Champion U-19

Rhea Bhandare
1997 National Champion Girls U-19
1997 National Champion Girls U-14

Tournament Calendar 2005 - 06

08 - 14 Dec World Men's Team Islamabad, Pakistan - India 11th
27 - 30 Dec Scottish Junior Open Edinburgh, Scotland - Anaka winner, Surbhi, Abhishek, Sachika runner up
02 - 06 Jan British Junior Open Sheffield, England- Anwesha 5th, Anaka 6th, Harinder 9th, Dipika 10th
10 - 14 Jan 3rd World International Doubles Melbourne, Australia - Saurav/ Ritwik 11th
20 - 22 Jan Czech Junior Open Prague, Czech Republic
27 - 29 Jan Italian Junior Open Reggio Emilia, Italy
03 - 05 Feb Flemish Junior Open Herentals, Belgium
17 - 19 Feb French Junior Open Marseille, France
03 - 05 Mar Welsh Junior Open Cardiff, Wales
15 - 26 Mar XVIII Commonwealth Games Melbourne, Australia
10 - 12 Mar Austrian Junior Open Vienna, Austria
21 - 23 Apr Geneva Junior Open Geneva, Switzerland
05 - 07 May German Junior Open Gerlingen, Germany
30 - 02 Jul Spanish Junior Open Santiago, Spain
07 - 10 Jul Pioneer Junior Open Cologne, Germany
13 - 16 Jul Dutch Junior Open Amsterdam, Netherlands
17 - 22 Jul 14th World Junior Men's Indiv Palmerston, New Zealand
23 - 28 Jul 14th World Junior Men's Team Palmerston, New Zealand
Jul/Aug SAF Games M W Colombo, Sri Lanka
24 - 30 Sep 15th World Women's Team Edmonton, Canada
03 - 07 Dec 15th Asian Games Doha, Qatar

Rediff interviews with Saurav

Saurav Ghosal groomed for glory2005 Interview with Saurav on his future plans in the sport now that he is based in England.

'Being No. 1 is good; living up to it is tough'2004 Aug Interview

'I want to win the World Juniors'2004 Jan Interview

Midday article on Harinder

Harinder the new kid on the block...Besides being Harbhajan Singh’s state-mate Harinder Pal Singh yesterday proved that he could well be a ‘Turbanator’ to squash, what Bhajji is to cricket....

Tamil Nadu govt. picks 'Future Champions'

TN govt. picks 'Future Champions' for grooming

Indiavarta article on Dipika

Article on Dipika...She is now gearing up for the British Open, one of the biggest contests, and is not thinking about anything else. ‘‘I like to take things one by one,’’ she says. Dipika is grateful that she is training in the best academy and with the best coach in India — the ICL academy and Cyrus Poncha.....