Birmingham: India’s challenge in the men’s draw of the British Open squash championships came to an end on Tuesday as Abhay Singh and Veer Chotrani suffered second-round defeats against higher-ranked opponents.
Abhay, ranked World No. 24, pushed Egyptian star Mohamad Zakaria hard before going down 9-11, 4-11, 11-7, 10-12 in a closely contested four-game encounter. The Indian fought back strongly after losing the opening two games, taking the third and threatening to force a decider before Zakaria held his nerve in a tense fourth game.
The defeat ended an encouraging campaign for Abhay, who had opened his tournament with a commanding straight-games victory over Colombia’s Matias Knudsen. The Indian had looked in impressive touch in the first round, winning 11-8, 11-5, 11-4 to set up the clash against the world No. 8 Egyptian.
Chotrani’s run also concluded in the second round, as the world No. 40 was beaten by Welsh sixth seed Joel Makin. Chotrani battled hard in the opening two games but eventually succumbed 10-12, 9-11, 3-11 against the experienced world No. 6. IANS
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