Top seeded Joshna Chinappa is a step away from retaining the girls title, while Saurav Ghosal made his maiden entry into the boys final in the 12th India Cements Asian Squash Individual Championship at the ICL Academy in Chennai on Saturday.
In the finals on Sunday, Joshna will take on Hong Kong's Annie Lu (second seed), while Ghosal (second) plays Amir Atlas Khan of Pakistan, the top seed.
Joshna, who has not been properly tested throughout the championship, played casually in all the three games against Delia Arnold (Malaysia) and won at 9-3, 10-8, 9-6, while Annie Lu downed a fighting Sally Looi of Malaysia, the only other WISPA rated player in Asia, 9-3, 9-3, 9-1.
In the boy's semifinals, Ghosal played flawless squash, with good control of pace and immaculate shot selection. He started off at a scorching pace and maintained it throughout to beat Bilal Zaman (Pakistan) 9-2, 9-0, 9-2 in 36 minutes.
Atlas Khan faced a few hiccups against the stroke making Abdullah Al Mezayen of Kuwait. Though Atlas Khan dropped the first game 5-9, he played superbly and controlled the match thereafter in the next three.
His change in game plan, forcing his rival to commit errors, paid off and he won the match at 5-9, 9-3, 9-3, 9-6 in 46 minutes.
This is the first time that Ghosal and Atlas Khan will be playing against each other.
