HCL-SRFI Tour: Mahesh Mangoankar loses to Ivan Yuen in final

HCL-SRFI Tour: Mahesh Mangoankar loses to top seed in final

Ivan Yuen and Mahesh Mangaonkar in action at the final of HCL-SRFI Tour in Chennai's Indian Squash Academy (ISA).

India's Mahesh Mangaonkar lost to top seed Ivan Yuen 7-11, 12-10, 11-6, 5-11, 11-8 in the final of the HCL-SRFI India squash tour, a PSA Challenger tour, at the Indian Squash Academy (ISA) here on Thursday.

Rachel Arnold beat fellow Malaysian Wen Li Lai 11-1, 11-4, 6-11, 11-5 to emerge champion in the women's final.

From 0-1 down, Rachel ruthlessly accumulated 11 points to close out the first game. "I just wanted to start well," she said after the match. Rachel attributed her third game loss to losing focus.

Ivan, speaking after his win, said he had to keep playing at a quick pace: "Mahesh had had a couple of tough matches, coming into the final. So, I just had to keep it going quick. Also, he is pretty good with his backhand and forecourt play. I had to take that away from him."

Talking about the defeat, second seed Mahesh said, "It was tough. I became too negative with myself in the end. That, I think, costed me big time. Had I been a bit more positive in the end, maybe the result would've been in my favour.

"To be honest, I did not play good squash at all in this tournament. I kept adjusting to the conditions and they're not really in your control. But I still wasn't able to do to the best of my ability (on Thursday), the things which were in my control. Playing straight worked a lot better for me today (Thursday). But I wasn't doing it enough. I was deviating from my game plan in the end. I pushed as much as I could. I did everything I could."

 

The results (finals, Indians unless mentioned): Men: Ivan Yuen (Mal) bt Mahesh Mangaonkar 7-11, 12-10, 11-6, 5-11, 11-8. Women: Rachel Arnold (Mal) bt Wen Li Lai (Mal) 11-1, 11-4, 6-11, 11-5.