Loses title clash to Kuwait’s Abdullah Almezayen, narrowly misses out on becoming the first Indian squash gold winner in Asian Games.

Saurav Ghosal on Tuesday squandered a two-game advantage to narrowly miss out on becoming the first Indian squash player to win the gold medal at the Asian Games.

Ghosal was leading after the first two games of the gold-medal match but his opponent, Kuwait’s Abdullah Almezayen, staged a dramatic fightback winning the next three games to clinch the top prize.

Almezayen won the title clash 10-12 2-11 14-12 11-8 11-9 at the Yeorumul Squash Courts. The Indian missed out on a gold-medal point with the scoreline reading 12-11 in the third game, which eventually proved to be the decisive game.

Ghosal took 21 minutes to take the first game before consolidating his position by clinching the second in merely six minutes of play. The Kuwaiti squash player then made a grand fightback as he took 19, 12 and 17 minutes respectively to win the next three games.

Prior to this, the 28-year-old Ghosal had three Asian Games medals to his name – singles bronze in 2006 Doha Games and two more, including one in doubles, in the 2010 edition in Guangzhou.

source: http://www.thehindu.com / The Hindu / Home> Sport> Other Sports / PTI / Incheon – September 23rd, 2014