Sandhu upsets seeded Malaysian rival to enter round two

Mumbai, Nov 7 (PTI) Former national champion Harinder Pal Singh Sandhu entered the quarter finals of the main draw by shocking Malaysian seventh seed Ivan Yuen in four games in the CCI International JSW Indian Squash Circuit 2017 here today.

Sandhu, who came through two rounds of the qualifiers in the PSA event to enter the main draw, showed greater application and skill to topple his higher ranked Malaysian rival 4-11 11-6 11-2 11-2 in 51 minutes at the Cricket Club of India.

In another surprise, wild card Ramit Tandon of India shunted out the number 8 seed Abdulla Mohd al Tamimi of Qatar 11-7 4-11 11-4 11-3 in 45 minutes to join compatriot Sandhu in the quarters.

Sandhu, ranked 69 in the world, took time to settle down against his 46-ranked Malaysian rival to drop the opening game.

But he took control of the match from there on by running up big leads early in each of the next three games. He led 6-1 in all these games and did not allow Yuen to fight his way back.

In fact the Malaysian, who was penalised on quite a few occasions for coming in the Indian's way, seemed to throw in the towel once the lead became too big in all the games.

Sandhu hit fluently on both flanks, was the faster of the two and took the ball early. He also played some excellent drop shots to fox his rival.

The results (1st round): [Q] Harinder Pal Singh Sandhu (IND) beat [7] Ivan Yuen (MAS) |

4-11, 11-6, 11-2, 11-3; Joel Makin (WAL) beat [6] Chris Simpson (ENG) 11-8, 8-11, 11-6, 8-11, 11-7; [Q] Mazen Gamal (EGY) beat [4] Omar Abdel Meguid (EGY) 4-11, 11-7, 11-3, 8-4 (retired); [5] Nicolas Muller (SUI) beat [Q] Ammar Altamimi (KUW) 11-7, 8-11, 11-5, 11-7;

[WC] Ramit Tandon (IND) beat [8] Abdulla Mohd al Tamimi (QAT) 11-7, 4-11, 11-4, 11-3