Vice-president,Indian Sports Journalists Federation

MUMBAI, December 7, 2009 - Indian squash champion Saurav Ghoshal gave the Punj Lloyd PSA Masters a dream start when he beat Aussie Cameron Pilley ranked 18 places above him to be the first Indian to make the second round at the all-glass courts at the Bombay Gymkhana ground on Saturday night.

Saurav is ranked 33 while Pilley is No 15. No Indian had beaten as high ranked a player in the PSA events. Saurav had beaten No 11 Alex Gough of Wales at the World team in Chennai three years ago but it was not a PSA event. He had beaten someone in the top 20. The other current great Ritwik Bhattacharya had beaten Azlam Iskander of Malaysia when he was No 33.

There were about 200 squash fans to egg Saurav on especially when he looked like frittering a 2-0 lead. It made Saurav re-focus on the task ahead, to win the fourth set and not brood on the one he had lost.

There were any number of distractions like the court getting wet because of the sweat and needing to be mopped but Saurav kept attacking when under pressure. He kept the taller six-footer Pilley to the back which forced a few errors on his part like the last shot, an overhead volley which he put into the tin. Saurav later said,``It was better that way for him to make an error than me hitting a winner. He had fought back so well, he was picking everything so it may have been tough for me to finish.''

The win was creditable because Pilley, the Australia No 3 had never lost to a player ranked below him. And he had a higher percentage of winning tie-breaks and the third was on a tie-break. Said the Aussie rather sportingly,``Saurav deserved to win. I knew he would play well in Indian conditions in front of his home crowd. My game wasn't as tight as it should have been under the circumstances.''

The match was topsy turvy. Saurav won the first two games with amazing retrieving. Luck didn't go with him in the third, a few millimetres separating a drop from back from being good which would have given him an 8-7 lead.

Luck however smiled on Saurav in the fourth - a mishit scoring a point, a Pilley drop going down, Saurav putting a high ball service away when he had missed a few, and a stroke that put him ahead 6-5 and gain at 8-5 topped by the final Pilley overhead into the tin that prompted the crowd to erupt in cheers that could have been heard as far at the Brabourne Stadium whicjh has been monopolising them at the cricket.

First round results:
Stewart Boswell (Aus) bt (14) Anwar Reda (Egy) 11-6,11-8,11-3. Omar Mossad (Egy) bt (11) Wael El Hindi (Egy) 10-12,11-8, 11-9,12-10. (6) James Willstrop (Eng) bt Jonathan Kemp (Eng) 11-5,6-11,11-3,11-5. David Palmer (Aus) bt Tom Richards (Eng) 11-9,11-6,11-7. (2) Amr Shabana (Egy) bt Mathieu Castagnet (Fra) 11-5,11-9,12-10. Saurav Ghoshal (Ind) bt (15) Cameron Pilley (Aus) 11-8,11-2,1-12,11-8.(3) Ramy Ashour (Egy) bt Hisham Ashour (Egy) 11-13,11-6,11-8,11-3. (12) Mohamed El Shorbagy (Egy) bt Azlan Iskander (Mal) 14-2 retd. <QL>