Khan Conquers Bhattacharya In Kolkata
In the battle between two qualifiers for a place in the last four of the Kolkata International Squash Championship, it was Pakistan's Khayal Muhammad Khan who prevailed in today's (Thursday) quarter-finals as local hero Ritwik Bhattacharya, the Indian number one, went down in four games in a marathon 64-minute clash in the former Indian capital.
Bhattacharya looked to be under tremendous pressure from the word go. In the end, the difference between the pair was that the 25-year-old from New Delhi made too many more unforced errors than Khan as the 22-year-old Pakistani from Lahore went through to win 10-11 11-7 11-9 11-8.
Top-seeded Malaysian Mohd Azlan Iskandar sailed through to the semi-finals, where he will meet Khan. His 19-year-old opponent Basit Ashfaq, a qualifier from Pakistan, looked as if he had not recovered from the previous day as Iskandar swept to an 11-3 11-2 11-5 victory in just 23 minutes.
Canada's third seed Shahier Razik seemed in no hurry to finish the match against England's Alister Walker, the No6 seed. Razik picked up everything that was thrown at him by the Englishman. Walker looked frustrated and made errors trying to finish the ball. At the end, it became a battle of survival of the fittest as the Canadian triumphed 11-9 11-5 9-11 11-2 in 55 minutes.
Razik will face Cameron Pilley for a place in the final after the second-seeded Australian beat England's unseeded Stacey Ross in 59 minutes. Pilley controlled the game from the very first point and stormed through to the semi-finals by an 11-5 11-5 8-11 11-10 margin.
RESULTS: Kolkata International Squash Championship, Kolkata, India
Quarter-finals:
[1] Mohd Azlan Iskandar (MAS) bt [Q] Basit Ashfaq (PAK) 11-3, 11-2, 11-5 (23m)
[Q] Khayal Muhammad Khan (PAK) bt [Q] Ritwik Bhattacharya (IND) 10-11 (0-2), 11-7, 11-9, 11-8 (64m)
[3] Shahier Razik (CAN) bt [6] Alister Walker (ENG) 11-9, 11-5, 9-11, 11-2 (55m)
[2] Cameron Pilley (AUS) bt Stacey Ross (ENG) 11-5, 11-5, 8-11, 11-10 (2-0) (59m)