By Debayan Mukherjee
Kolkata, April 7 (IANS) Although he recently made history by becoming the first Indian male squash player to break into the top-10 of the PSA world rankings, Saurav Ghosal still rues the fact that the sport is not a part of the Olympic Games.
"It's disappointing not only for me but every squash player around the world," Ghosal told IANS in an interview. He is on his way to Macau to take part in the Macau Open starting April 10. He is the second seed in that competition.
"It hurts to see squash not being part of the 2024 Olympics. We need to help the sport grow and Olympics is something every sportsperson looks forward to."
Ghosal said the plan is not to think of too far ahead now and keep working hard to stay where he is. The 32-year-old city-born player was the first Indian to be ranked World's No.1 junior.
"Obviously I am very happy to be in the top-10 of the PSA rankings. The journey has been really hard. I had to do well on a regular basis to attain this and this is why it is all the more fulfilling," said Ghosal, a 12-time national champion who has also won Asian Games medals on six occasions.
"I would want to continue doing well on the PSA circuit as it's important to stay consistent. There is no point in setting your sights on things which are too far ahead now. Taking it step by step helps," he said.
Ghosal won the Kolkata International title in November last year here, to then enter the quarterfinals of the 2018-2019 PSA World Championships in Chicago for the first time in his career in February, and make the same stage at the prestigious Grasshopper Cup in Zurich last month.
Ghosal said he received congratulatory message from brother-in-law Dinesh Karthik among others and was happy his team Kolkata Knight Riders were doing well in the ongoing Indian Premier League.
"It feels good when your family and near and dear ones support you. D.K. messaged me and I am happy for him as well as KKR is doing well."
For the record, Dipika Pallikal Karthik and Joshna Chinappa have both reached a highest ranking of world's no. 10 in 2012 and 2016, respectively.
(Debayan Mukherjee can be contected at debayan.m@ians.in)
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