Squash: Shameena, Semwal pull off big upsets at SRFI PSA Challenger tourney

MUMBAI, JUN 30 (IANS): Shameena Riaz and Om Semwal of India pulled off massive upsets on an action-packed day at the USD 15,000 SRFI PSA Challenger Squash Tournament, being hosted by the Juhu Vile Parle Gymkhana Club (JVPG) at their air-conditioned courts in Mumbai.
While Shameena accounted for top seed Hayley Ward of South Africa in four games, Semwal displayed immense discipline and stamina as well as skill and guile to outlast third seed Diego Gobbi of Brazil in five games.
In other matches featuring Indians, third seed Tanvi Khanna outplayed Pooja Arthi Raghu 3-0, while 5th seed Suraj Kumar Chand lost in three games to Egypt’s Ziad Ibrahim on Monday night.
Shameena, who grabbed the last spot on the Indian team for the Asian Games, rallied from the loss of the first game to keep her nerves and play strongly against the top seed, Hayley Ward of South Africa. With Hayley trying all the tricks in the book to upset the rhythm of Shameena, it was the 20-year-old from Chennai who managed to come up trumps in tight situations and win 8-11, 11-9, 11-9, 11-9.
“It took me some time to settle down and adjust to the conditions, and I then started moving the ball around the court, making my opponent work harder,” said an elated Shameena, daughter of former India hockey captain Mohammed Riaz. “She is ranked around 62 in the world, but I was determined to hang in there. I was a bit winded in the third and fourth games but managed to keep up with my opponent,” she added.
Shameena will meet Japan’s 6th seed Akari Midorikawa, who scored a straight-games win over Korean opponent Bo Ram Ryoo. With a 1-1 head-to-head record, an interesting contest is on the cards on Wednesday.
The 22-year-old Semwal, who trains at the Jindal Centre in Vashind under Deepak Mishra and Laxman Joshi, had his work cut out against Gobbi, who is one of the fastest and fittest players on the tour.
“It was a tight and tough match, and I just played the game one point at a time, determined to stay with my opponent,” said Semwal after the 6-11, 11-6, 11-9, 9-11, 11-9 victory. Semwal goes on to meet Egypt’s 8th seed Ziad Ibrahim, who took out India’s 5th seed Suraj Kumar Chand 11-4, 11-6, 11-5.