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.

The results (pre-quarterfinals): Karim El Hammamy  (Egy) bt Christopher Gorden (USA) 4-11, 11-8, 11-6, 11-7, Nathan Lake (Eng) bt Mahesh Mangaonkar (Ind) 11-6, 11-8, 11-8 , Todd Harrity (USA) bt Martin Svec  (Cze) 11-9, 7-11, 11-2, 11-5, Youssef Soliman (Egy) bt Addeen Idrakie (Mas) 11-6, 11-6, 11-9, Carlos Cornes Ribadas (Esp) Ramit Tandon (Ind) 7-11, 4-11, 11-5,11-6,11-7, Harinder Pal Singh Sandhu (Ind) bt Ahmed Hosny (Egy) 11-1, 12-10, 12-14, 5-11, 11-8, Zahed Salem (Egy) bt Michael Mccue (Can) 11-9, 11-2, 11-3.