Farag powers on in Mumbai
By Squash Mad Correspondent
Just one day after India’s No.1 squash player Saurav Ghosal suffered a shock first-round exit at the CCI PSA International Squash Championship in Mumbai, Malaysian Ong Beng Hee, a Commonwealth Games silver medalist in 2002, followed suit suffering a shock exit at the hands of Indian Mahesh Mangaonkar.
In what should have been a final tune-up for this summer’s Commonwealth Games, Beng Hee, who is seeded eighth for the men’s singles tournament at this summer’s event in Glasgow, lost 11-6, 11-7, 3-11, 12-10 to the World No.70 from Mumbai.
It could prove to be a severe set-back for the 34-year-old’s hopes of medalling at the Games as he has now failed to progress past the second round in nine of his last ten PSA World Tour events.
Mangaonkar, the 20-year-old Mumbai native, will now face Nasir Iqbal of Pakistan in the semi-finals after he overcame fifth seed Jaymie Haycocks of England 11-5, 11-8, 11-7 while Egyptian Ali Faraq, the qualifier who disposed of Ghosal in round one, will face compatriot Zahed Mohamed in the second semi-final.
“I knew he’s a good player,” said Mohamed after his win over Harinder Pal Sandhu. “He played really well in the third game and got me worried again in the fourth when he took that big lead. But I engaged him in long rallies and waited for him to make the mistakes.”
CCI PSA International Championship 2014 – Quarter-final:
[Q] Ali Farag (EGY) bt [8] Kristian Frost Olesen (DEN) 3-2: 3-11, 8-11, 11-4, 11-5, 11-5
[6] Zahed Mohamed (EGY) bt [WC] Harinder Pal Sandhu (IND) 3-1: 11-6, 11-7, 2-11, 11-9
[3] Nasir Iqbal (PAK) bt [5] Jaymie Haycocks (ENG) 3-0: 11-5, 11-8, 11-7
Mahesh Mangaonkar (IND) bt [2] Ong Beng Hee (MAS) 3-1: 11-6, 11-7, 3-11, 12-10