Unseeded Ribadas shows Tandon the door

Ramit Tandon started off well but lost his touch in the third game where the Spaniard upped his aggression to win a five-game thriller.

Harinder Pal Singh Sandhu defeated Ahmed Hosny of Egypt in a match that went the distance. (File Photo)

Eighth seeded Ramit Tandon suffered a shock exit as unseeded Carlos Cornes Ribadas of Spain recovered a deficit of two games to beat the Indian in a riveting pre-quarterfinal match of the Kolkata International PSA $30,000 squash event at the Calcutta Racket Club (CRC) on Thursday.

Tandon, who is a find of the CRC, started off well but lost his touch in the third game where the Spaniard upped his aggression to win a five-game thriller.

Ramit won the first two games making a fine selection of shots that fetched him regular winners. Ribadas, who is currently ranked 96th in the world, changed gears in the third game and surprised Tandon (ranked 68) with a flurry of drop shots.

The Spaniard continued with his strong performance in the next two games forcing Ramit to surrender 7-11, 4-11, 11-5, 11-6,11-7.

Seventh seeded Harinder Pal Singh Sandhu held his own against unseeded Ahmed Hosny of Egypt in another match that went the distance.