World Rankings for Men's: January 2006 for INDIA

Pos Name last months Pos
54 RITWIK BHATTACHARYA 58
64 SAURAV GHOSAL 67
145 SIDDHARTH SUCHDE 144
195 PARTHIBAN AYAPPAN 194
205 SUPREET SINGH 204
224 HARINDER PAL SANDHU 223
242 SANDEEP JANGRA 240

Scottish Junior Open

We reached 3 finals and won 1, in addition to having 3 semi-finalists

Finals:
Boys U13:[3/4] David Wardle (Eng) bt [2] Abhishek Pradhan 9/5, 9/7, 9/6
Boys U15:Gabriel Velasquez (Mex) bt [2] Ian Jubb (Sco) 2/9, 10/8, 9/2, 9/6 (40m)
Boys U17:[1] Rory Byrne (Irl) bt [2] David Letourneau (Can) 9/4, 5/9, 9/5, 9/7 (60m)
Boys U19:[3/4] Arturo Salazar (Mex) bt [5/8] Cesar Salazar 9/4, 9/0, 9/2 (44m)

Girls U13:[3/4] Anaka Alankamony bt [1] Sachika Balvani 9/0, 9/2, 9/5 (20m)
Girls U15:[3/4] Laura Gemmell (Can) bt Liu Tsz Ling (Hkg) 9/2, 9/2, 9/4
Girls U17:Leung Shin Nga (Hkg) bt Surbhi Misra 9/4, 10/8, 9/2 (27m)
Girls U19:[3/4] Neha Kumar (Can) bt [5/8] Victoria Lust (Eng) 9/5, 3/9, 10/8, 9/5 (40m)
Karan Malik bt Alex Bowden {England}3-1 for the third place u15
Saumya bt Aparajitha for the third place u13


Semi final results
Boys U15:Gabriel Velaquez (Mex) bt Karan Malik 9/7, 9/7, 4/9, 5/9, 9/5
Boys U13:[2] Abhishek Pradhan bt Samuel Conant (Usa) 9/3, 9/3, 9/2
Girls U17:Surbhi Misra bt [1] Bethan Williams (Wal) 9/5, 10/8, 9/5
Girls U13:[1] Sachika Balvani bt Aparajitha Balamurukan 4/9, 9/6, 9/4, 9/4
[3/4] Anaka Alankamony bt Saumya Karki 9/10, 9/3, 9/0, 9/1

Detailed Results
Article on Surbhi

World Mens Team final placings

Winners:[1] ENGLAND bt [2] EGYPT 2-0 (James Willstrop bt Amr Shabana 4-9, 9-6, 9-3, 9-1 (63m); Peter Nicol bt Mohammed Abbas 9-0, 9-2, 9-1 (44m); Lee Beachill v Karim Darwish (match withdrawn - dead rubber))

3rd place play-off:[3] FRANCE bt [5] CANADA 2-1
5th place play-off:[4] AUSTRALIA bt [6] MALAYSIA 2-0
7th place play-off:[7] PAKISTAN bt [8] WALES 2-1
9th place play-off:[12] SOUTH AFRICA bt [13/18]GERMANY 2-1
11th place play-off:[10] INDIA bt [9] NETHERLANDS 2-1 (Ritwik Bhattacharya lost to Laurens Jan Anjema 1-9, 3-9, 3-9; Gaurav Nandrajog bt Tom Hoevenaars 9-4, 9-3, 9-3; Siddharth Suchde bt Dylan Bennett 9-5, 9-6, 9-7)
India finish 11th

13th place play-off:[19/22] USA bt [13/18] SCOTLAND 2-1
15th place play-off:[11] NEW ZEALAND bt [13/18] KUWAIT 2-1
17th place play-off:[19/22] SPAIN bt [13/18] FINLAND 2-1
19th place play-off:[13/18] IRELAND bt [19/22] IRAN 3-0
21st place play-off:[13/18] HONG KONG bt [19/22] AUSTRIA 3-0

HindustanTimes article on Surbhi

Newkerela article on Surbhi reaching the finals of the scottish open

HT article on Surbhi preparing for the British Open

Sport breaking barriers

An interesting article on sport and social change

British Junior Open 2006 - Seeding

Powerplay Sports British Junior Open 2006, will be held from 2-6 Jan, at Sheffield.This is the most prestigious tournament for juniors. The following Indian junior players have been seeded:

Girls u 15
Dipika Palikal 3/4
Anwesha Reddy 5/8

Girls u 13
Sachika Balvani 5/8
Anaka Alankamony 5/8

Boys u 13
Abhishekh Pradhan 5/8

Top seeds Schedule Competitors

World Men's Team Semis

The line up of the Semi-finals:
[1] ENGLAND beat [5] CANADA
[2] EGYPT beat FRANCE

They got here by beating:
[1] ENGLAND bt [8] WALES 3-0
[5] CANADA bt [4] AUSTRALIA 2-1 :A major upset
[3] FRANCE bt [7] PAKISTAN 2-1
[2] EGYPT bt [6] MALAYSIA 3-0

India beat Ireland, enter the top 12 playoff

India v IrelandOur # 3 player Siddharth Suchde went on court first and gave the us a perfect start with a clinical display of basic squash. his 3-0 victory went exactly as per script.
The 2nd match between the two # 1's was expected to be a close affair but as it turned out Liam was on song and Ritwik Bhattacharya was dancing to his tune. A 3-0 victory ensured that the Irish hopes stayed alive.
The final match was between the # 2's. Saurav Ghosal started rather tentatively and dropped the first game, sending shivers down the Indian bench. He composed himself and once he took the second there was no turning back.

Results
Siddharth Suchde beat Brian Byrne 9-5, 9-1, 9-2
Ritwik Bhattacharya lost to Liam Kenney 7-9, 3-9, 9-6
Saurav Ghosal beat Arthur Gaskin 6-9, 9-5, 9-0, 9-1


India v Canada We lost 3-0 in the first play off
Sahier Razik beat Saurav Ghosal 10-8, 9-6, 9-2
Graham Ryding beat Ritwik Bhattacharya 10-8, 9-4, 9-4
Mathew Guffrie beat Siddharth Suchde 9-4, 9-5

India v Germany
Saurav went on first against seasoned campaigner Simon Baker, and soon had a comfortable 2-0 lead. Unfortunately somewhere in the middle of the third game he started getting shin splints. By the time the 5th game arrived Saurav had nothing left in him and his shin was pretty sore and he lost 3-2.

Ritwik went on next against Germany's top junior Simon Rosner. Simon was relentless in his attacking and retrieving and won 3-1.
Sid played the dead rubber and lost 2-0.

Simon Baker bt Saurav Ghosal 9/10, 4/9, 9/4, 9/2, 9/0 (62m)
Simon Rosner bt Ritwik Bhattacharya 9/7, 6/9, 9/7, 10/9 (82m)
Patrick Gassler bt Siddarth Suchde 9/5, 9/3 (29m)

India v Netherlands
We beat them 2-1 and reached the 11th position

Ritwik Bhattacharya lost to LJ Anjema 1/9, 1/9, 3/9 (43m)
Gaurav Nandrajog bt Tom Hoevenaars 9/4, 9/3, 9/3 (45m)
Siddarth Suchde bt Dylan Bennett 9/5, 9/6, 9/7 (53m)

Photo with the French team

In today's first match against France the expected happened. France, the finalists in the previous world men's championships proved too good for the fighting Indians. Siddharth Suchde playing at no.3 was on court first against Renan Lavigne who had had to toil for a 3-1 victory. Sid hung in well but the more experienced Renan handled the crunch points better.
Ritwik went next against world no.1 Thierry Lincou who was simply too quick, too accurate and too miserly with his errors. Ritwik on several occasions during the game did express awe at his pace and mastery of the game.
Young Saurav played the last match against Gregory Gaultier who was quick to the ball and more impressively had the ability to play an array of shots from anywhere on the court with the same sort of swing.

Even though we lost 3-0, we relished the occasion, playing some of the best players in the world.
Tomorrow as the caption goes "is another day". We have to get into the top 12 and to do that, Ireland have to be beaten. Anything can happen in a team event but we are certainly looking at a victory.

Full results and ranking of players listed below
Renan Lavigne (33) bt Siddharth Suchde (145) 9-5, 4-9, 9-4, 9-2
Thierry Lincou (1) bt Ritwik Bhattacharya (58) 9-2, 9-1, 9-0
Gregory Gaultier (11) bt Saurav Ghosal (67) 9-3, 9-1, 9-5

Our team at the opening ceremony

We had a rest day on the 1st day of the 20th World Men's Team Championship. It is after a gap of 10 years and only the 6th time that the Indian team is participating at this premiere event with our strongest ever team. Our record in past world men's team championship has been quite average but we hope to break into the top 12 this year.
Indian squash has shown a tremendous leap forward in the junior categories finishing in the top 5 in both the junior men and junior women's at the world championships. Perhaps the time has come for the seniors to make an impact in the world arena as well.
Details of our past performances at the World Men's Squash Championships are :
1967 - 5th position out of 6 participating teams
1971 - 6th position out of 7 participating teams
1976 - 7th position out of 10 participating teams
1979 - 7th position out of 14 participating teams
1995 - 28th position out of 32 participating teams

World Men's Team Schedule & Results

We now play Canada in the Playoffs for the top 12 teams
Results

Day 3 Dec 10
South Africa 2-1 Kuwait
England 3-0 Austria
Australia 3-0 Netherlands
Finland 2-1 USA
Wales 3-0 Hong Kong
Egypt 3-0 New Zealand
Germany 3-0 Iran
India 2-1 Ireland
Scotland 3-0 Spain
Pakistan 3-0 Malaysia

Day 2 Dec 9
England 3-0 South Africa
Kuwait 3-0 Austria
Egypt 3-0 Germany
New Zealand 3-0 Iran
France 3-0 India
Australia 3-0 Finland
Netherlands 2-1 USA
Canada 3-0 Wales
Pakistan 3-0 Spain
Malaysia 2-1 Scotland

Day 1 Dec 8
South Africa 3-0 Austria
England 3-0 Kuwait
Netherlands 2-1 Finland
Australia 3-0 USA
Canada 3-0 Hong Kong
New Zealand 1-2 Germany
Egypt 3-0 Iran
France 3-0 Ireland
Pakistan 2-1 Scotland
Malaysia 2-1 Spain

Newspaper articles : Australia , Malaysia , Canada

Hindu article on Balamurugan and Parthiban

For B. Balamurugan and A. Parthiban, sport served as a means to earn their bread and butter and Squash became an outlet to express their desires.

With rare dedication and commitment, the two school dropouts have carved a niche for themselves in the field of squash and are proof of the SRFI's stated objective of providing opportunities for the economically under-privileged sections

Squash Racquets Federation of India (SRFI)plans to promote the sport among the underprivileged

Indian players on the US collegiate squash circuit

A few of our ex-juniors are studying in the US and also playing on the collegiate squash circuit

Current Womens ranking Current Mens ranking

Rankings (end Nov)
3 Vaidehi Reddy - Trinity
14 Supriya Balsakar - Harvard
34 Rachita Vora - Yale

3 Sid Suchde - Harvard
11 Sahil Vora - Trinity
50 Mihir Seth - Harvard
58 Satyajit Seshadri - F&M
60 Auloke Mathur - Amherst

PSAlive.tv - bringing the best squash to your PC

Watch live squash matches from all over the world on

Hong Kong World Open

Egypt's Amr Shabana, the fifth seed, defeated third seed David Palmer from Australia 11-6 11-7 11-8 in the men's final. Nicole David of Malaysia who will become the new world number one in January, beat top seed Rachael Grinham of Australia 8-10 9-2 9-6 9-6.