Ritwik, Ghoshal fail to qualify for world squash

NEW DELHI: India's best squash exponents Ritwik Bhattacharya and Saurav Ghosal have failed to qualify for the Al-Ahram World Open Championship in Cairo.

Amr Ramzy Swelim of Egypt defeated India's No. 1 Bhattacharya 10-11 (1-3), 11-6, 11-7, 11-8 in 42 minutes, while Amr Mansi, also of Egypt, overcame Ghosal 11-7, 11-6, 5-11, 4-11, 11-6 in 51 minutes in the opening qualifying round Wednesday.

Ghosal gave a scare to Mansi, winning the third and fourth games after losing the opening two. But the 20-year-old Chennai boy eventually failed to seal the match and went down in the deciding fifth game to lose the match.

Hosts Egypt and England dominated the early action on the first day of qualifying.

The qualifying finals on Thursday will produce the eight players who will join the main draw of the $152,500 PSA Tour event that returns to the sport's most spectacular location, by the country's famous pyramids at Giza, for the first time since 1999.

Egyptian Omar Abdel Aziz battled for 80 minutes to deny Englishman Simon Parke the chance of competing in his 16th World Open since 1989.

Aziz, the 22-year-old world No. 74 from Cairo, defeated the 34-year-old former world No. 3 from Yorkshire 11-9, 11-9, 10-11 (0-2), 11-5 and will now meet another Englishman Peter Barker for a place in the main draw.

Barker, the world No. 24 from Essex and the highest-ranked player in the qualifiers, despatched Egypt's Sherif Moustafa Kamel 11-3, 11-4, 11-6 in 35 minutes.

The most frustrating encounter took place after the lone pair of Pakistanis in the event -- Mansoor Zaman and Aamir Atlas Khan -- raced from Sri Lanka where they won the South Asian Games squash title for their country, only to discover that they were drawn to face each other for a place in the qualifying finals.

Zaman, the 26-year-old world No. 8 from Peshawar, was unable to outwit his younger compatriot as Khan, just 16, claimed an unexpected 11-9, 11-9, 11-7 victory.