El Gouna International Squash Open: Ramit Tandon defeats World No. 11 Victor Crouin in the 2nd round
India’s star squash player Ramit Tandon stunned French World No. 11 Victor Crouin 3-1 in the second round of the El Gouna International Open, a $198,000 prize money PSA Platinum squash event.
Ramit displayed a terrific showing as he beat Victor Crouin 11-9, 12-10, 8-11, and 11-5 in 52. Notably, this was his second win over the Frenchman in their five meetings so far.
“Victor is a very fair player, it’s always been fun playing him. We’re good friends so it’s always a good clean match. I’m happy with the way I played. That second game was really close and could have gone either way which was really crucial. Fortunately, it went my way," said Ramit after the win.
"In the third, he was too sharp and I took a bit of a breather as well when I found myself down. Then I came back firing in the fourth and I feel I got a little lucky towards the end but that’s how the sport goes! I knew the fourth game was going to be tough and I needed to start strong and I believed in the physical work I’d put in and believed I could stay with him," he added.
Brimming with confidence, Ramit Tandon will next take on Peruvian World No. 3 Diego Elias in the third-round clash. It is pertinent to note that Elias had won both the previous clashes against Tandon.
Earlier, Ramit Tandon had beaten World No. 62 Aly Hussein 11-6, 11-9, and 11-5 in the first round of the 48-player draw.
Ramit Tandon left behind his booming junior career to join Columbia University in New York City
Ramit Tandon’s love affair with squash began during his childhood days. Despite taking up finance as a career option, he didn’t stop playing squash and participated in different competitions.
He went on to clinch six Junior National titles and several international championship titles. Ramit Tandon had become a household name at the junior level and had represented India at the 2018 Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast. However, he left behind everything and moved to the USA, joining Columbia University in New York City.
Tandon became the captain of the squash team and achieved the number two rank in the College Squash. His sportsmanship and conduct on and off the court helped him bag the prestigious Skillman Award.
“Squash being an individual sport, gets a little lonely at times. But in college sports, I was a part of a massive team. We had 223 people on our team, so I ended up making a lot of friends out of it. I got the team environment and the team spirit, which normally we don't get in our sport. So overall, it was a lot of fun,” Ramit was quoted as saying in an interview with The Bridge.