Harinder my main challenger competitor in national squash: Ghoshal

Veteran India star Saurav Ghoshal asserted on Tuesday that second seed Harinder Pal Singh Sindhu will be his biggest competitor in the ongoing 74th National Squash Championship at the Shiv Nadar University here.

"The biggest competitor for me is Harinder Sandhu, he is the one who is the second seed as well and his had a good year, this year and I'm so happy for him because I think like me, I think in a way almost worse than me in the end of 2015-16 he has really bad run with the injuries as well," Ghoshal told IANS.

"Worse than me because it has taken him out for long time, so I'm really happy for him that he has returned back," the World No.27 added.

Praising the World No.65, Ghoshal said he can perform much better, keeping in mind he is the only other player having won the National Championship in recent years.

"He has done well over the last three months on Professional Squash Association (PSA), which is what he is not being able to do in the past consistent basis because he is much better than what his ranking history on PSA shows, he is much better and the only one who has won the Nationals in 2015," the 31-year-old explained.

When asked if he is confident of winning the National Championship title, the top seed said: "Yes, that's the plan, that's what I want to do, so I had a good summer especially after last year when I didn't really have the best summer, physically I have been in a better shape than I have been in the past two years or so with the injuries I have had, so I'm happy being where I'm at in that sense."

The Kolkata-born Ghosal, whoi was initially trained in Chennai by coaches Maniam and Cyrus Poncha before moving abroad for further coaching, also applauded the infrastructure for the sport in India.

"In terms of infrastructure, Indian squash academy versus most of the other training academies in the world, I think the infrastructure is in place, I think in terms of coaches there is a lot of good coaches in the world but it important to find the synergy between yourself and the coaches, the way you play and the philosophies the coaches have," Ghoshal said.

Presently training under England's Malcolm Willstrop, Ghoshal confessed he always wanted to train under him.

"I personally always wanted to train under Malcolm Willstrop because the way his players play I find it attractive, I think it is something I can replicate in terms of the way I play," the 2014 Asian Games gold medallist said.

In 2004, Ghoshal became the first Indian ever to win the British Junior Open Under-19 Squash title, defeating Adel El Said of Egypt. Later in 2013, he became the first Indian to reach the quarter finals of the World Squash Championship at Manchester, England.

(Samrat Chakraborty can be contacted at samrat.c@ians.in)

--IANS

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