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Saurav Ghosal competes against a hugely impressive Diego Elias

Colombia Update: Ghosal Defeats Elias in Five-Game Thriller

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Indian World No.20 Saurav Ghosal prevented a huge upset in round one of the 2016 Taeq SquashColombia PSA Open after he came through a highly-entertaining five-game battle against 19-year-old Peruvian World Junior Champion Diego Elias in Cartagena.

In a match that contained a veritable feast of sumptuous winners, high octane rallies and energy-sapping exchanges, Ghosal’s experience and superior fitness eventually made the difference, as the 29-year-old took advantage of a tiring Elias to close out the win with an 11-9, 2-11, 5-11, 11-8, 11-6 margin of victory.

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“Diego is a fantastic player,” said Ghosal.

“He’s the reigning World Junior Champion and I’ve played him twice now in Colombia, both in Bogota and here today. It’s been absolutely brutal. I had to get him off the ’T’ because he is so good across the middle of the court and he has very good shots.

“It is similar to what one of my role models, Jonathon Power, used to do because he trains with him quite a bit. He’s an absolute handful and I’m sure that we are going to have a lot more matches together and hopefully we will entertain the people of Cartagena and everyone around the world like this every time.”

A positive start from Ghosal saw the Indian National Champion take the first game but Elias soon roared into life in the second. The World No.39, playing with a maturity beyond his tender years, varied the pace and height of his shots superbly to take nine points in a row in the early stages of the game and eventually won it 11-2 to level proceedings.

A seemingly innocuous elbow injury to Ghosal saw play disrupted in the the third game but Elias soon found his rhythm once again, opening up a strong lead mid-game to rise into a one-game advantage for the first time in the fixture.

Ghosal wasn’t done there though and, after fatigue began to creep into the legs of Elias, he brought the fixture level to set up a climactic fifth game showdown. A number of enthralling rallies drew a crescendo of noise from an enraptured crowd and it was Ghosal who just managed to shade the match to take a priceless victory and secure passage through to the quarter-final – where he will line up against either Omar Mosaad or Zahed Mohamed.

Result – First Round: Taeq SquashColombia PSA Open 2016
[8] Saurav Ghosal (IND) bt [Q] Diego Elias (PER) 3-2: 11-9, 2-11, 5-11, 11-8, 11-6 (90m)

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