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Kolkata
International
2005
Kolkata, India, 06-12 Sep, $20k |
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10-Sep, Final:
[1] Azlan Iskandar (MAS) bt
[3] Shahier Razik (CAN)
11/6, 11/7, 11/3 |
 "Azlan
was too quick at the front. I got no breather, which I
desperately needed as my legs were stiff."
Shahier Razik |
 "I
was lucky. All those I faced from the quarter final stage seemed
tired after playing tough games a day earlier.
"Today, I took the lead in the initial stages of each game, and
this enabled me to try different things. But whenever Razik
closed in I returned to my tactical game."
Azlan Iskandar |
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Azlan
Takes Kolkata Title
Malaysia's top seed Azlan Iskandar
claimed his second PSA title in just three weeks with a fluent
straight-games victory over Shahier Razik at the Calcutta Rackets Club,
winning the tournament without dropping a game.
Iskandar's rich array of strokes and fleet-footed coverage of the court
was too much for Razik, the third seed from Canada, who appeared to be
suffering from his exertions in a marathon semi-final against second seed
Cameron Pilley.
Iskandar collected $3068 for his week's work, while Razik took home $2099.
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09-Sep, Semi-Finals:
[1] Mohd Azlan Iskandar (MAS) bt [Q] Khayal Muhammad Khan (PAK)
11-4, 11-7, 11-0 (24m)
[3] Shahier Razik (CAN) bt [2] Cameron Pilley (AUS) 11-8, 9-11,
11-8, 5-11, 11-8 (90m) |
 "Its
great to play here at Calcutta. A few things which I learnt myself
(I knew it was an old club but not that old) was that the Calcutta
squash rackets club is 212 years old.
"Yeah that's right, was founded in 1793 and is probably one of the
oldest squash clubs (only squash and no other sport).
"The whole of Calcutta is abuzz with the event and all the squash lovers are looking forward to some world
class squash."
Ritwik Bhattacharya |
"The championship will have some
of the biggest names from the world of squash.
"While Saurav who is
currently the world No 79 and a wild card in the mains, the other
Indian who is expected to reach the mains from the qualifiers is Ritwik Bhattacharya who is ranked world no 61.
''Saurav was given a wild card because he is a local boy and
besides he is the current national champion."
Dalip Tripathy
Tournament spokesman and referee, talking to
newKerala.com |
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Azlan Cruises,
Razik takes his time
In contrasting matches in Kolkata, top seed Azlan Iskandar raced
past surprise semi-finalist Khayal Muhammad in 24 minutes, while
Shahier Razik outlasted second seed Cameron Pilley in a 90-minute
marathon.
Canadian Razik, who lost to Pilley in their two PSA meetings over the past
twelve months, was determined to prevent an Australian hat-trick. But
Pilley led 7-0 in the fifth game and looked comfortably poised to win.
However, the 22-year-old from Queensland suddenly started cramping and
found the going difficult as Razik moved him around the court. After
losing serve just once at 4-7, Razik did not look back, ultimately winning
11-8 9-11 11-8 5-11 11-8.
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08-Sep, Quarters:
[1] Azlan Iskandar (Mas) bt [Q] Basit Ashfaq (Pak)
11/3, 11/2, 11/5 (23m)
[Q4] Khayal Muhammad Khan (Pak) bt [Q] Ritwik Bhattacharya (Ind)
10/11(0-2), 11/7, 11/9, 11/8 (64m)
[3] Shahier Razik (Can) bt [6] Alister Walker (Eng)
11/9, 11/5, 9/11, 11/2 (55m)
[2] Cameron Pilley (Aus) bt Stacey Ross (Eng)
11/5, 11/5, 8/11, 11/10(2-0) (59m)
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Quarters:
Ritwik goes
down
fighting in Kolkata
Home interest was ended in Kolkata
as Pakistan's Khayal Muhammad Khan won the battle of the qualifiers
against Indian number one Ritwik Bhattacharya.
 At
times it looked more like a WWF match, according to local reports, with
both players blocking and arguing not only with the referee but also
between themselves.
There was a point where the referee had to go down on court in the fourth
game and warn both the players.
Ritwik looked to be under tremendous pressure from the word go, but the
only difference between the two in the end was that Ritwik made more
unforced errors than Khayal.
No sweat for
top three
 Top
seeded Azlan Iskandar sailed through to the semi finals.
19-year-old Pakistani qualifier Basit Ashfaq looked as though he hadn't
recovered from the previous day, and went down rather tamely, the match
lasting just 23 minutes.
By contrast, third seed Shahier Razik looked like he was in no
hurry to finish his match.
It was more a game of patience as Razik picked
up everything that was thrown at him by English youngster Alister Walker.
Walker looked frustrated and made errors trying to finish the rallies, and
at the end there was nothing left in Walker's tank as Razik won the battle
of survival of the fittest.
In the last match of the day, Australia's second seed Cameron Pilley
played at a pace that Stacey Ross found a little too fast for his liking.
Pilley controlled the game from the very first point and despite dropping
the third game stormed his way into the semi-finals. |
Kolkata Open
2005
Kolkata, India, 06-12 Sep, $20k |
Round One
Sep 07 |
Quarters
Sep 08 |
Semis
Sep 09 |
Final
Sep 10 |
[1] Azlan Iskandar (Mas)
11-8, 9-11, 11-7, 11-3 (42m)
Saurav Ghosal (Ind) |
Azlan Iskandar
11/3, 11/2, 11/5 (23m)
Basit Ashfaq |
Azlan
Iskandar
11-4, 11-7, 11-0 (24m)
Khayal Mohammed |
Azlan
Iskandar
Shahier
Razik |
[7] Gavin
Jones (Wal)
11-4, 2-11, 11-7, 11-10(2-0) (52m)
[Q] Basit Ashfaq (Pak) |
[4]
Mohammed Essam A Hafiz (Egy)
11-9, 8-11, 9-11, 11-3, 11-8 (57m)
[Q] Ritwik Bhattacharya (Ind) |
Ritwik Bhattacharya
10/11(0-2), 11/7, 11/9, 11/8 (64m)
Khayal Mohammed |
[5] Ben Garner (Eng)
11-10(2-0), 8-11, 11-7, 11-8 (50m)
[Q] Khayal Mohammed (Pak) |
Yasir Butt
(Pak)
8-11, 11-1, 11-6, 7-11, 11-10(2-0) (64m)
[6] Alister Walker (Eng) |
Alister Walker
11/9, 11/5, 9/11, 11/2 (55m)
Shahier Razik |
Shahier
Razik11-8, 9-11, 11-8, 5-11,
11-8 (90m)
Cameron
Pilley |
[Q]
Cameron White (Aus)
11-8, 9-11, 11-7, 11-0 (46m)
[3] Shahier Razik (Can) |
Stacey Ross (Eng)
11-8, 11-7, 11-4 (36m)
[8] Philip Barker (Eng) |
Stacey Ross
11/5, 11/5, 8/11, 11/10(2-0) (59m)
Cameron Pilley |
Arshad
Iqbal Burki (Pak)
11-6, 11-4, 11-10(4-2) (21m)
[2] Cameron Pilley (Aus) |
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Qualifying
Finals (06-Sep):
Ritwik Bhattacharya (IND) bt Supreet Singh
(IND) 11-7, 11-2, 11-3
(18m)
Basit Ashfaq (PAK) bt Lee Drew (ENG)
7-11, 11-6, 9-11, 11-5, 11-1 (49m)
Cameron White (AUS) bt Tony James (AUS)
9-11, 11-2, 11-7, 11-6 (40m)
Khayal Muhammad Khan (PAK) bt Chris Gordon (USA) 11-8,
11-8, 11-8 (50m)
First Round (05-Sep):
Ritwik Bhattacharya (IND) bye
Supreet Singh (IND) bt Nasser B Al-Ramzi (KUW)
9-11, 9-11, 11-8, 11-10(2-0), 11-8 (68m)
Lee Drew (ENG) bye
Basit Ashfaq (PAK) bt Harinder Pal Sandhu (IND)
11-4, 11-4, 11-1 (20m)
Tony James (AUS) bt Ramit Tandon (IND)
11-4, 11-8, 11-2 (18m)
Cameron White (AUS) bt Gaurav Nandrajog (IND)
11-8, 11-6, 11-3 (46m)
Christopher Gordon (USA) bt Parthiban Ayappan (IND) 11-6, 11-6, 11-5
(34m)
Khayal Muhammad Khan (PAK) bye
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Round One:
Ritwik leads the
upsets in
Kolkata
 Four
seeds fell in today's opening day of action in the Kolkata
International at the Calcutta Racket Club – with local hero Ritwik
Bhattacharya, a qualifier, claiming the biggest upset to become the
only Indian through to the quarter-finals of the new PSA Tour event in the
former Indian capital.
The 25-year-old from New Delhi fought back from 1/2 down to despatch
fourth seed Mohamed Essam A Hafiz, from Egypt, 11-9 8-11 9-11 11-3 11-8 in
57 minutes, maintaining his unbeaten record in the city, and now meets
another qualifier Khayal Muhammad Khan for an unlikely place in the
last four.
Khan beat England's fifth seed Ben Garner 11-10 8-11 11-7 11-8 in 50
minutes.
There was also a surprise English success in the bottom half of the draw
when unseeded Stacey Ross, from Surrey, overcame eighth seed
Phillip Barker 11-8 11-7 11-4 in 36 minutes to set up a quarter-final
meeting with Australia's second seed Cameron Pilley.
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Qualifying Finals:
Ritwik races into
Kolkata draw
The
first match of the day was a one sided affair with Ritwik Bhattacharya
beating Supreet Singh 3-0 in 18 minutes. Ritwik had the skill to
send Supreet running from corner to corner and finished the ball with
immaculate precision.
Bhattacharya's record of never having lost in Calcutta is likely to face a
stern test in the main draw.
Basit outlasts Drew
The second match was the most interesting of the day, between
Lee Drew
and Basit Ashfaq. The first game was evenly matched and went neck
and neck till 6-all. Basit made two unforced errors which saw him trail
6-8 and was unable to make up the deficit and lost the game 11-7.
 Basit
picked up his game in the second and ran of to a quick 7-1 lead and
without much resistance won the game 11-6. The third game was an absolute
cliff hanger and the longest game of the match (12mins).
There was nothing to separate the two players - Lee was the first to reach
game ball and was leading 10-7 when Basit, with some tight lengths, forced
Lee into errors and came up to 9 before Lee finished the game.
Tiring Lee couldn't do much in the next two games and without much of a
fight lost both in a matter of 15 minutes.
The Tony James and
Cameron White match was an all Australian
affair between two sparring partners. White looked a little tired in the
fourth with the game evenly poised at 6-all, but he suddenly went into
overdrive and finished the game without losing another point.
The last match between
Christopher Gordon and Khayal Mohammed
turned out to be a little rough with both players barging into each other
and appealing at the end of every rally. Gordon looked frustrated and was
running out of ideas, Khayal winning the bout in 50 hard fought minutes.
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 05-Sep, Qualifying day one:
Indians bow out in
Kolkata Qualifying
Five Indians took part in the first qualifying round of the Kolkata
International at the Calcutta Racket Club, with four meeting defeat and Supreet Singh earning a place in the qualifying finals against ...
Indian number one Ritwik Bhattacharya!
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 Kolkata hosts top
Indian Tourney
The richest recent PSA event to be held in India, the Kolkata International
takes place at the 212-year-old Calcutta Racket Club from 7th to
10th September.
India's
top junior Saurav Ghosal receives a wild-card into the event, where
he is drawn against top seed Azlan Iskandar of Malaysia, while the
hosts' top senior Ritwik Bhattacharya is top seed for the
qualifying competition.
The Calcutta Racket Club which is hosting the
event has seven courts, including two glass courts with a gallery
accommodating some 400 spectators.
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