Saurav eyeing doubles, mixed doubles medals in CWG

Leeds based Indian national squash champion Saurav Ghosal is eyeing a medal in the doubles and mixed doubles competition each of the event at the upcoming Commonwealth Games to be held in India from Oct 3.

“We have a better chance in doubles than in singles in the Commonwealth Games.” said Ghosal who is currently world number 29. Ghosal said he was yet to identify his partners for the Games, but hoped to be paired with country’s numero uno women’s player Joshna Chinappa in mixed doubles.

Ghosal, currently in the city for the PSA Indian Challenger which is slated to start Wednesday, said he wanted to take one match at a time in the tournament.

“Top players like Adrian (Adrian Grant) and Cameron (Cameron Pilley) are playing. So it’s going to be tough but I’ll focus on one match at a time.” said the 25-year-old who is seeded eighth in the tournament.

“If I win tomorrow the draw opens up. Then I play top seeded Adrian and we have had close matches in the past. So that’s a crucial tie for me.” added Ghosal who opens his account with lower ranked Aaron Frankcomb on Wednesday .

After the city competition, Saurav has a series of tournaments lined up including the Asian Championships in May, the Super Series in Cairo (May 15-22) and Australia in mid August besides the Cathay Pacific Super Series in Hong Kong.

He would play the English Grand Prix in September. Reflecting on last year, Saurav said: “In 2009 I broke into the top 30 beating some good international players. So that was good. But I did not have lot of wins. I would like to change that this year. Hope for the best.”

The Kolkata born Ghosal feels squash as a sport can be popular in India, where cricket holds a monopoly, if the country’s stars can break into the top 20 or 10.

“If players like me and Joshna (Joshna Chinappa) can perform like this and even better to break into the top 20 or 10, sponsors will automatically come up and the sport will get its due media coverage. We are trying hard. Infrastructure in schools needs to develop. Then only children will grow an interest in the sport. The state body has some responsibilities to,” Ghosal said.

“The infrastructure in Chennai in quite good. Delhi is building a new squash complex which is encouraging. We need more efforts like this to foster the development of the game,” he added on a positive note.