Saurav Ghosal (born 10 August 1986, in

Kolkata Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , the official name until 2001) is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal, on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary business, comme ...

West Bengal West Bengal (, Bengali: ''Poshchim Bongo'', , abbr. WB) is a state in the eastern portion of India. It is situated along the Bay of Bengal, along with a population of over 91 million inhabitants within an area of . West Bengal is the fou ...

) is a professional squash player from

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area, the List of countries and dependencies by population, second-most populous ...

and reached a career-high world ranking of World No. 10 in April 2019. He completed his schooling at

Lakshmipat Singhania Academy Lakshmipat Singhania Academy (LSA) are a group of schools run by Lakshmipat Singhania Education Foundation, a subsidiary of the J.K. Group. There are two branches of LSA - in Kolkata, West Bengal and Bissau, Jhunjhunu District, Rajasthan. T ...

in Kolkata.

Career overview

In 2013, Saurav became the first

n to reach the Quarter finals of the World Squash Championship at Manchester, England. In 2004, he became the first

n ever to win the coveted

British Junior Open The British Junior Open squash championship is considered the second most prestigious junior open squash championship after the World Junior Squash Championships. It is one of the five Tier 2 events in the WSF World Junior Squash Circuit. Briti ...

Under-19 Squash title, defeating Adel El Said of

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning the North Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via a land bridg ...

in the final at

Sheffield, England Sheffield is a city in South Yorkshire, England, whose name derives from the River Sheaf which runs through it. The city serves as the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire an ...

. Saurav moved to

Chennai Chennai (, ), formerly known as Madras ( the official name until 1996), is the capital city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost Indian state. The largest city of the state in area and population, Chennai is located on the Coromandel Coast of th ...

after completing his school and was based at the ICL squash academy in

and coached by Major (Rtd) Maniam and Cyrus Poncha in Chennai, India. Currently based in

Leeds Leeds () is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds district in West Yorkshire, England. It is built around the River Aire and is in the eastern foothills of the Pennines. It is also the third-largest settlement (by popul ...

, he trains with Malcolm Willstrop at Pontefract Squash Club in West Yorkshire. Saurav is the current Indian national champion after he defeated Gaurav Nandrajog at the National Championships 2006 in

New Delhi New Delhi (, , ''Naī Dillī'') is the capital of India and a part of the National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT). New Delhi is the seat of all three branches of the government of India, hosting the Rashtrapati Bhavan, Parliament Hous ...

. As of May 2010, his PSA world rank is 27. In the top 100 in the world are two of his Indian Squash Colleagues Siddharth Suchde (80) and Harinder Pal Sandhu (90). Saurav won the bronze medal at the Asian Games 2006 Doha and was awarded the

Arjuna Award The Arjuna Award, officially known as Arjuna Awards for Outstanding Performance in Sports and Games, is the second-highest sporting honour of India, the highest being the Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna Award. The award is named after Arjuna, one ...

by the President of India in August 2007 thus becoming the first Squash player from the country to get the award. Saurav started playing squash in his hometown of Kolkata, at the Kolkata Racquet Club. He did his schooling from

, before moving to Chennai to join the ICL Squash Academy. Here he was coached by retired Major Maniam and Cyrus Poncha. Ghosal has numerous firsts to his credit, the first Indian to be ranked junior World No one, the first to bag the junior National championship three years in a row and in December 2006, he won the country the first medal in squash in the Doha Asian Games. His first major title was the German Open (U-17) in May 2002 and he won the Dutch Open two months later. In 2013, he became the first Indian squash player to reach the quarterfinals of the

World Championship A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game, ...

. In 2014, he won the silver medal (individual singles) in the 17th

Asian Games The Asian Games, also known as Asiad, is a continental multi-sport event held every four years among athletes from all over Asia. The Games were regulated by the Asian Games Federation (AGF) from the first Games in New Delhi, India, until t ...

at Incheon. He was the first Indian squash player to do so. He lost in the final to Abdullah Al-Muzayen of Kuwait. He however led the Indian Squash team to its first ever Gold Medal at Incheon. In the final he bounced back from a game down to eke out a 6-11 11-7 11-6 12-14 11-9 win over former world no. 7, Ong Beng Hee in a gruelling 88-minute clash to give India a healthy 2-0 lead Ghosal also remains the first Indian player to claim a place in the world’s top 10 during the 2018-19 campaign. Saurav Ghosal has been named as the Professional Squash Association’s (PSA) Men’s President as one of three new additions to the PSA’s Board of Directors, which were officially confirmed at the association’s annual AGM on Wednesday December 22, 2021. In August 2022, Ghosal became the first Indian men's squash singles medalist at the

Birmingham Commonwealth Games The 2022 Commonwealth Games, officially known as the XXII Commonwealth Games and commonly known as Birmingham 2022, was an international multi-sport event for members of the Commonwealth of Nations that took place in Birmingham, England be ...

after he beat 2018 reigning champion

James Willstrop James Willstrop (born 15 August 1983) is an English professional squash player living in Yorkshire, England. He was born in North Walsham, Norfolk, England. Career Willstrop has a large build for a squash player, being and . He trains at P ...

of England in straight sets in the bronze medal playoff to take the bronze medal. He defeated Shamil Wakeel of Sri Lanka 11-4, 11-4, 11-6 in the second round, beat David Baillargeon of Canada 11-6, 11-2, 11-6 in the third round. In the quarter-final, he recovered from a defeat in the second set to see off Scotland’s Greg Lobbon 11-5, 8-11, 11-7, 11-3 before falling to New Zealand’s world no. 2 and eventual gold medallist

Paul Coll Paul Daniel Coll (born 9 May 1992) is a professional squash player from New Zealand. In March 2022, he became the first New Zealand man to achieve a world ranking of World No. 1. He is the current British Open champion, having won this tourn ...

9-11, 4-11, 1-11 in the semi-final.

Personal life

Saurav married Diya Pallikal (sister of Dipika Pallikal Karthik) on 1 February 2017.

References

External links

* * *
Newspaper articles on Saurav's PSA Otters win

Saurav's interview in DNA

Articles on Saurav on Cyrus Poncha's squash Blog

Rediff interview

"Asiad: Men’s squash team gets historic gold, women grab silver"
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ghosal, Saurav Indian male squash players Recipients of the Arjuna Award 1986 births Living people Racket sportspeople from Kolkata Asian Games medalists in squash Squash players at the 2002 Asian Games Squash players at the 2006 Asian Games Squash players at the 2010 Asian Games Squash players at the 2014 Asian Games Squash players at the 2018 Asian Games Asian Games gold medalists for India Asian Games silver medalists for India Asian Games bronze medalists for India Medalists at the 2006 Asian Games Medalists at the 2010 Asian Games Medalists at the 2014 Asian Games Medalists at the 2018 Asian Games Squash players at the 2010 Commonwealth Games Squash players at the 2018 Commonwealth Games Squash players at the 2022 Commonwealth Games Commonwealth Games silver medallists for India Commonwealth Games bronze medallists for India Commonwealth Games medallists in squash South Asian Games bronze medalists for India South Asian Games medalists in squash Competitors at the 2009 World Games