PSA Malaysian Tour No10, Kuala Lumpur, (5k)
Cyrus Poncha’s squash blog
by Cyrus Poncha
3y ago
Harinder Pal Sandhu’s winning streak in the PSA circuit continues. The former national champion won his fifth straight title and 10th overall when he defeated Mohd Syafiq Kamal of Malaysia in the final of the Malaysian Tour event in Kuala Lumpur.  The top seeded Indian who had a relatively easy move upto the final was given a tough fight by the second seeded Malaysian before Harinder prevailed 11-8, 10-12, 11-3, 9-11, 11-6. This is the seventh time that the two had met and Harinder has emerged the winner each time. “A fabulous win for Harinder and we are proud of him,” said the national c ..read more
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SYS Open, PSA 5 (9-14 May’17)
Cyrus Poncha’s squash blog
by Cyrus Poncha
3y ago
Ramit Tandon who won his maiden PSA title in SYS Open, a World Tour event. The one time top Indian junior, Tandon who had come into this event as a qualifier beat his country-mate and third seed Kush Kumar 11-3, 11-2, 11-3 in the final. This was Tandon’s third appearance in a PSA event final. The Kolkata player who shifted to New York nearly six years ago for studies has just begun to shape his career in the professional circuit. This has been his second tournament in the year, the earlier being an brief appearance in the qualifying phase in the Tournament of Champions in January. In the curre ..read more
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WSF Level 2 Coaching Course, 4-9 May Chennai
Cyrus Poncha’s squash blog
by Cyrus Poncha
3y ago
In all 15 coaches from various parts of India benefited from the 6-day WSF level II course, which concluded at the Indian Squash Academy on Tuesday. The course was conducted, in keeping with the WSF initiate of coach education programme, by Maj S. Maniam, the Director of Coaching of the world body. National coach Cyrus Poncha and Iran’s Alireza Sanaei, were other two officials to assist him. Of the lot, four were already ASF certified and this course enabled them to refresh and get in line with the WSF curriculum and earn WSF accreditation, in tune with the need for standardisation of coaching ..read more
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Abu Dhabi Open (1-5 May) 
Cyrus Poncha’s squash blog
by Cyrus Poncha
3y ago
Vikram Malhotra annexed his fifth PSA title after beating Egypt’s Youssef Ibrahim in the final of the Abu Dhabi Open, a PSA world tour event. Vikram won 6-11, 11-4, 11-3, 9-11, 13-11. The top seeded Indian, fresh from the Asian Championship held in Chennai, beat Hesham Mohamed Aly of Egypt in the first round thereafter seventh seed Ahmad Al-Saraj of Jordan in the quarters, both in fluent style. In the semi-final he took out Pakistan’s Khwaja Adil Maqbool who retired in the third game after trailing by two games. The stiff test then came for him the title-match where the Egyptian took him ..read more
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Cyrus Poncha receives ASF Award 
Cyrus Poncha’s squash blog
by Cyrus Poncha
3y ago
National coach Cyrus Poncha who was chosen from a list of 13 nominations from seven countries for the 2016 Asian Squash Federation Coach of the Year award by the Asian body received the honour at the prize distribution function of the Asian Championship in Chennai.  He was the only Indian in this year’s list of awards (players and officials put together). The ASF recognition came for Poncha’s role in the string of achievements of India’s senior and junior players last year. The highlights were the World doubles in Australia where Saurav Ghosal and Dipika Pallikal Karthik had won a mixed s ..read more
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Joshna makes history (Asian C’ship, Chennai 26-30 April)
Cyrus Poncha’s squash blog
by Cyrus Poncha
3y ago
Joshna Chinappa made history by becoming the first Indian to win the Asian Individual Squash Champion. Saurav Ghosal became the first male player from India to make it to the final of the Asian Championship and Dipika Pallikal Karthik emulated the champion of yesteryear Misha Grewal by making it to the final. It all happened interestingly at the Express Avenue Mall in Chennai, which was the venue for the first time for an Asian Championship. Even though national coach Cyrus Poncha confessed that he dreamt of an Indian winning the coveted title, when it came true there was no stopping the aboun ..read more
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Assore & Baldwin Parkview Open, Johannesburg, (9-13 April’17) 
Cyrus Poncha’s squash blog
by Cyrus Poncha
3y ago
It proved to be so near yet so far for the Chennai lad Velavan Senthilkumar, the precociously talented young man from the Indian Squash Academy. The current Asian junior champion and keen to have a smooth transition to the professional world of PSA events, Velavan was close to winning his first PSA event in Johannesburg. The Parkview Open provided just the platform as he progressed from the qualification phase to knock out the 8th seed Belgian Tiago Goriely first and then in the quarters earned the prized cap of top seed Aqeel Rehman of Austria in a stunning three gamer. Third seed Mark Fuller ..read more
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ASF Coach of The Year Award
Cyrus Poncha’s squash blog
by Cyrus Poncha
3y ago
CHENNAI: India’s national squash coach Cyrus Poncha has been chosen from a list of 13 nominations from seven countries for the 2016 Asian Squash Federation Coach of the Year award by the Asian body. He is the only Indian in this year’s list of awards (players and officials together) which was released by the Asian Squash Federation. The ASF has recognised Poncha’s role in the string of achievements that India’s senior and junior players had brought in last year. The highlights were the World doubles in Australia where Saurav Ghosal and Dipika Pallikal Karthik had won a mixed silver, Joshna Chi ..read more
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A slice of history in Aberdeen (North of Scotland Open, 28 Mar-2 Apr)
Cyrus Poncha’s squash blog
by Cyrus Poncha
3y ago
Mahesh Mangaonkar and Vikram Malhotra became the the first two Indians to contest a PSA Tour event final away from India. The two featured in the title round of the PSA world Tour event and in keeping with the seedings, second seed Vikram won but only barely. Such was the fight that third seed Mahesh gave. The final scores 3-11, 11-8, 6-11, 13-11, 11-4 tell the story of the great battle. An all-Indian final had come earlier but at home. Saurav Ghosal and Ritwik Bhattacharya had featured in two PSA events held in India. The event in Scotland saw Vikram making steady progress, beating a qualifie ..read more
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WSF Level 1 Course (27-31 March’17)
Cyrus Poncha’s squash blog
by Cyrus Poncha
3y ago
The WSF Level  1 Coaching Course was held at NSCI Mumbai from 27-31 March 2017. 29 Coaches from across the country attended the Level 1 course with 9 existing coaches doing the Level 1 refresher course.  The course was conducted by Dalip Tripathi ..read more
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