Ritwik Bhattacharya (born 14 October 1979 in

Pathankot Pathankot is a city and the district headquarters of the Pathankot district in Punjab, India. Pathankot is the 6th most populous city of Punjab, after Ludhiana, Amritsar, Jalandhar, Patiala and Bathinda. Its local government is a municipal cor ...

) is a

squash player Squash is a racket-and-ball sport played by two or four players in a four-walled court with a small, hollow, rubber ball. The players alternate in striking the ball with their rackets onto the playable surfaces of the four walls of the court. Th ...

from India. The flag bearer of Indian Squash on

Professional Squash Association The Professional Squash Association (PSA) is the governing body for the men's and women's professional squash circuit. The body operates in a similar fashion to the ATP and the WTA for tennis. The PSA's highest professional level, the PSA Wor ...

tour rock was the first of the accomplished junior players who brought great momentum in the Indian squash scene. Trained in England for five years under Coach Neil Harvey, Ritwik was once India's highest ranked squash player (until superseded by Saurav Ghosal in 2013) and also its most successful with nine PSA tour titles till date. His highest world ranking was #38 in November 2008. He was the first Indian to break into the top 50 of the PSA World Rankings (May 2006). * He has won the Indian National Squash Championship five times (1998, 2000, 2001, 2003, 2005). * He was the finalist at the World Doubles 2004 (Team India, partner: Saurav Ghosal). * Has earned more than 70 caps playing for India and captained the Indian Team to a top 8 finish in the World Team Championships in 2007. Ritwik who is now out of competitive squash has set up a squash academy START ( Squash Temple and Real Training) which currently trains over 150 tribal children who have never been exposed to sports and hail from economically and educationally poor background from villages in and around Mokashi on the outskirts of Mumbai in India. Trainees at Bhattacharya's academy are now a regular fixture on the Junior National Circuit.

Personal life

Ritwik Bhattacharya was in relationship with Bollywood actress

Neha Dhupia Neha Dhupia (born 27 August 1980) is an Indian actress and model who works predominantly in Hindi, and some Punjabi, Telugu and Malayalam films. She has won the Femina Miss India 2002 pageant and was among the top 10 finalists in Miss Universe ...

but they split in June 2010. According to reports, Ritwik is now married to Pia Trivedi.

Television appearances

References

External links

Articles on Ritwik Bhattacharya on Cyrus' Blog

Ritwik Bhattacharya
* PTI reports. 1979 births Living people Indian male squash players Rashtriya Indian Military College alumni Squash players at the 2002 Asian Games Squash players at the 2006 Asian Games Asian Games competitors for India Competitors at the 2009 World Games Fear Factor: Khatron Ke Khiladi participants {{India-squash-bio-stub