Saurav, Ritwik qualify for main draw of Cathay Pacific event

Chennai, Nov 6 (UNI) For the first time, two top notch Indians - former British Junior Open winner Saurav Ghosal and former national champion Ritwik Bhattacharya - made it to the main draw of the Cathay Pacific Hong Kong Open Super Series Platinum event today.

According to Indian coach Cyrus Poncha, it was a historic moment for Indian squash as ICL Academy trainee Saurav and Ritwik won their final round of qualifying convincingly to enter the main draw.

While Saurav beat Jesse Englebrecht of South Africa 11-5, 11-9, 11-5 in 30 minutes, Ritwik overcame Chris Simpson of United Kingdom 4-11, 12-10, 11-7, 11-4 in 42 minutes.

In the main draw, Saurav would come face to face with World Champion David Palmer while Ritwik plays Adrian Grant.

However, in the ladies section, National Champion Joshna Chinnappa went down to Sarah Kippax of England.

Its for the first time ever that two Indians have entered the main draw of the top 32 players of the world in a Super Series Platinum event. Their success would certainly boost the confidence of the Indian Men's team, which is gearing up for the World Men's Team Championships to be held at the ICL Academy here next month, Cyrus said.

UNI