One of India’s most successful squash players, Saurav Ghosal took to Instagram on Monday to announce his retirement from competitive squash.
The 37-year-old, a winner of 10 PSA Tour titles and a 13-time National men’s singles champion, said it was a decision that he took after deliberating for a while. “I felt like the mind and the body have just been running on fumes a little bit. So, it needed some time to heal. So I’m trying to give it that time. Obviously, playing for India has always been the biggest honour and privilege. Playing PSA [for 21 long years] has been unbelievable. But obviously, with playing PSA, you’re talking about week-in, week-out tournaments,” he told Sportstar on Monday.
Saurav, who is the only Indian men’s player to be ranked in the world’s top 10, will not take part in the 22nd Asian team championships scheduled in Dalian (China) from June 12 to 16, but said he might participate in the World team championships from December 9 to 15 in Hong Kong. “World teams is one I might target. But I will take a call on that in June so that I have six months to really train properly for it,” he said. “There’s a lot of grind for the body to deal with. A lot of travelling and things like that. Now, I’m going to be 38 in August.”
Saurav said he has a few ideas to coach/mentor elite players. “I might travel for coaching. I also have plans to formulate a squash structure in schools,” he said.
Cyrus Poncha, Secretary of Squash Rackets Federation of India, said Saurav spoke to him a couple of weeks back on his retirement plans. “We discussed about it. No doubt, he has done well for India in all the major events. We hope younger players come up the ranks and do well,” he said.
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