Indian national champion Saurav Ghosal and star woman player Joshna Chinappa, who has just returnd to the top-10 ranking in the world, went out in the quarterfinal stage in the $100,000 China Open, a PSA World Tour event being held here.
Ghosal who had an enterprising start when he downed the fourth seeded Colombian Miguel Rodriguez of Colombia, produced another 76-minute epic in the next round which was the quarterfinal against Egyptian sixth seed Karim Abdel Gawad of Egypt before before going down 9-11, 3-11, 11-8, 11-5, 9-11.
Ghosal had made a bright start to the tournament. Having dropped out of the top 20 as per the latest PSA rankings, Ghosal was clearly eager to regain the lost ground. Playing Rodriguez, the Indian produced a grand come back to convert a 1-2 deficit to a 3-2 win, in a first round match that lasted 90 minutes. That 11-9, 8-11, 8-11, 11-9, 11-5 win helped Ghosal get a place in the quarterfinal.
The women's section brought both the stars from India, Joshna Chinappa and Dipika Pallikal Karthik on view. The only difference was that Dipika had to come into the main draw via the qualification phase. Even though the Indian cleared the stages with ease it turned outto be an anti-climax with her crashing out to the recent Hong Kong Open winner Nouran Gohar of Egypt. The third-seed Gohar won 11-5, 11-5, 11-6.
Joshna, facing qualifier Heba El Torky of Egypt, got over minor moments of indecisiveness to beat her in four games 8-11, 11-8, 11-4, 11-7 to secure a place in the quarters. However playing a tough opponent in top seed Laura Massaro of England, the Indian succumbed in straight games 7-11, 5-11, 6-11.
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