08 September,2009 12:13 PM IST | | IANS
Balamurugan and A Parthiban, coaches of the Indian Squash Academy, scalped the top two seeds in the first round qualifying of the PSA Indian Challenger-Three 2009 squash on Monday.
After Balamurugan, a national champion in Professional Category for 10 years, put paid to the aspirations of top seed Paul Mathieson of Italy, Parthiban made amends to get back his rhythm in the third and fourth games to dispose of Hon Fung Wong of Hong Kong.
Only two of the overseas players among the four who were on view this day could progress to the second and final qualifying round to be held on Tuesday. The main draw starts on Wednesday.
However, it was a mixed day for the Indian juniors who are making their debut in the PSA as six players have kept their hopes alive progressing to the second round qualifying and two of them are certain to make the main draw.
Two of the four matches on Tuesday would be between Indians - Balamurugan vs Sandeep Jangra and Naveen Jangra vs A Parthiban.
Making assessments of his Italian rival's strength in the first game which Balamurugan lost 4-11, the Indian was swift in planning his strategy. Balamurugan kept Mathieson on rallies and then went for winners. His strategy to wear down the Italian also worked to his advantage most often. Balamurugan won at 4-11, 11-8, 11-2, 11-9.
On the other hand, it was not an easy outing for Parthiban as his opponent Wong was not giving away easily. Though Parthiban took a few points' lead in all the four games, Wong was consistent in returning the ball. And winning points became rather difficult for Parthiban, who won the first game 11-9 but committed some silly mistakes in the second to lose at 8-11.
Parthiban was in his elements in winning the third at 11-4, but Wong fought for each point in the fourth game. The rivals were going neck to neck to 5-5 before Parthiban led 8-5.
Here, Wong made Parthiban to work harder from back court to the front and the Indian's four successive unforced errors helped Wong to level the score at 9-9 but he failed to sustain thereafter.
The Jangra brothers made most of their junior rivals to progress to the final qualifying. Mahesh Mangoankar and Ramit Tandon bit the dust losing to Sandeep Jangra and Vikas jangra, while Naveen Jangra got the better of Abhishek Pradhan (Ind) 11-4, 11-8, 9-11, 11-8 in 40 minutes.
