Ritwik clinches his maiden PSA title

Chennai, Nov 8 (UNI) Second seeded Ritwik Bhattacharya defeated compatriot Saurav Ghosal in a closely fought final match to claim his maiden 15,000 dollar Professional Squash Players Association Challenger Series here today.

Earlier, the two figured in a title clash in PSA event held in India but Bhattacharya, who remembers his every defeat, took a sweet revenge for his earlier losses at Ghosal's hands.

Though Bhattacharya was down 1-2 but he rallied back to win the fourth game and then the decider. He won 11-9, 5-11, 4-11, 11-8, 12-10 in a 90-minute tough battle.

Now with this win, Bhattacharya gained 225 points and also 2850 dollar, while Ghosal claimed 1950 dollar.

As the match commenced, Bhattacharya made his intentions clear, dominating with swift returns and counter attacked at will to gain the first game. The next two games went even initially but few line calls distracted the former national champion. He was however upset over this further loosing his focus and Ghosal was able to win and lead 2-1 in game.

In the fourth game, Bhattacharya was down 4-7 but he rallied back showing alacrity in his front court play and with a few brilliant back hand drop shots clawed his way to force the match to the decider.

Later in the match, it became a do or die situation for Bhattacharya in the decider, where the Delhi-based-star often stuck to the front court and pinned Ghosal to the back court.

Though Bhattacharya led 5-1 but never say die attitude of Ghosal helped him level the score on four occasions from 7-all to 10-10.

However, Bhattacharya who had the right to serve asked for two match points and then maintained focus, thwarting Ghosal's bid to claim the title.

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