It was a bright Sunday for India as it moved into the quarter-finals of the World Men's Team Squash Championship for the first time by beating Wales, even as arch rivals Pakistan bit the dust at the hands of the Dutch.
With India's top two players Saurav Ghosal and Ritwik Bhattacharya exerting every sinew and bringing their best performance, the 10th seeded hosts scored a 3-0 win over Wales, boasting off higher seeded stars.
Pakistan went down tamely to the Netherlands 0-3 despite having highly rated international stars.
In the quarter-finals on Monday, India will lock horns with top seeded Egypt, while the Netherlands will take on England.
The hosts are sure to improve their world ranking to between fifth and eigth before the championships ends on December 12.
In the other quarter-finals, Australia takes on Canada and France fights Malaysia.
After Bhattacharya scored an emphatic 3-0 win over David Evans, who had retired from the PSA Circuit but helps his country in international events, Ghosal was equally classy as he mixed his pace to get the better of the World No 25 Alex Gough, who retired trailing 1-2 in games.
Ghosal lost the first game narrowly on extra points 10-11 (1-3) but fought back with tenacious and intelligent play to win the next two. Gough, who had medical attention for his hamstring problem on left leg, could not sustain the pain and conceded the match 11-10 7-11 3-11.
In the last and third match, Siddarth Suchde got the better of Jethro Binns 11-8, 7-11, 11-2.
In the first match, Ritwik Bhattachrya brought about his best game in the recent past against David Evans. His excellent moves and decision to mostly play behind Evans, who kept up a fast pace, helped him score vital points.
From 7-4, Bhattacharya rose to 9-6 before winning the game. The second was going tough with Evans also changing his tactics. Trailing 2-5, Evans made it 6-all, 8-8 and then 10-10. Bhattacharya had the turning point when Evans was serving for the game (11-10).
After a brief rally, Bhattacharya came up with a superb and unreachable overhead forehand return to level the score and then maintained the momentum to score the required two points for a 2-0 lead.
In the third game, Evans, who rarely plays in the PSA circuit matched the Indian until 6-all. Here, Bhattacharya gained a point on 'stroke' and his rival hit the tin twice. With Bhattacharya missing a return close to the left glass, Evans served and involved Bhattacharya in a rally. The Indian closed out the rally and the match in an excellent fashion.
Results:
England bt Germany 3-0:
James Willstrop bt Tim Weber 11-6, 11-2, 11-8; Nick Mathew bt Simon Rosner 11-4, 11-6, 11-10 (2-0); Lee Beachill bt Mortiz Dahmen 11-1,11-7.
India bt Wales 3-0:
Ritwik Bhattacharya bt David Evans 11-6, 13-10 (3-0), 11-7; Saurav Ghosal bt Alex Cough 10-11 (1-3), 11-7, 11-3 conceded; Siddarth Suchde bt Jethro Binns 11-8, 7-11, 11-2.
The Netherlands bt Pakistan 3-0:
Dylan Bennett bt Mansoor Zaman 10-11 (0-2), 11-10 (3-5), 11-7, 11-8; Laurens Jan Anjema bt Amir Altas Khan 11-3, 11-9, 11-4; Piedro Schweertman bt Farhan Mehboob 11-7, 11-7.
Egypt bt Hong Kong 3-0:
Karim Darwish bt Max Lee 11-4, 11-6, 11-3; Amr Shabana bt Dick Lau 11-7, 11-2, 11-10 (2-0); Mohammed Abbas bt Anson Kwong 11-8, 11-4.
France bt New Zealand 3-0:
Thierry Lincou bt Campbell Garyson 11-9, 11-6, 9-11, 11-3; Gregory Gaultier bt Kashif Shuja 11-4, 11-6, 11-5; Julien Balbo bt Josh Greenfield 11-9, 11-10 (2-0), 11-5.
Canada bt South Africa 2-1:
Razik Shahier bt Stephen Coppinger 11-7, 11-9, 11-4; Jonathan Power bt Jesse Engeibeech 11-4, 11-2, 11-2; Mathew Giuffre lost to Adnan Hansin 11-9, 5-11, 6-11, 6-11.
Australia bt USA 3-0:
Stewart Boswell bt Christopher Gordon 11-3, 11-5, 11-7; David Palmer bt Julian Illingworth 11-5, 11-4, 11-5; Scott Arnold bt Jamie Crombie 8-11, 11-7, 11-4, 11-0.
Malaysia bt Ireland 2-1:
Ong Beng hee bt John Rooney 11-2, 9-11, 9-11, 11-4, 11-5; Mohd Azlan Bin Iskandar bt Liam Kenn 11-4, 11-6, 11-5; Mohd Nafizawan lost to Derek Ryan 11-6, 7-11, 7-11.
Placing Matches: 17 to 29:
Austria bt Venezuela 3-0:
Andreas Freudensprung bt Juan Pablo Sanchez 11-6, 11-6, 11-0; Aqueel Rehman bt Fransisco Valecillo 11-5, 11-7, 11-3; Stefan Brauneis bt Luis Hernandez 11-5, 11-3.
Kuwait bt Russia 3-0:
Abdullah AL-Mezayen bt Sergy Kostrykin 11-3, 11-2, 11-2; Bader AL-Hussaini bt Alex Severinov 11-1, 10-11 (0-2), 11-2, 11-6; Mohammed Hajeyah bt Valery Litvinko 11-2, 11-5.
Sweden bt Bermuda 3-0:
Rasmus Hult bt Mel Cairnes 11-7, 11-2, 11-5: Christian Drakenberg bt Chase Toogood 11-4, 11-5, 11-5; Guistav Detter bt Rober Maycock 11-3, 11-5.
Scotland bt Chinese Taipei 3-0:
Stuart Crawford bt Hsuen-Chih Huang 11-4, 11-1, 11-1; Alan Clyne bt Chun-Yu Chang 11-0, 11-2, 11-3; Henry Leitch bt Ching-Han Chen 11-2, 11-3.
Kenya bt Sri Lanka 2-1:
Rajdeep Bains lost to Navin Samarasinghe 5-11, 11-10 (3-1), 5-11, 4-11; Hardeep Reel bt Saman Thilakaratne 11-5, 10-11 (0-2), 11-9, 11-3; Otto Kwach bt Anura Hewage 11-8, 11-4, 11-3.
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