Saurav Ghosal (; born 10 August 1986) is an Indian squash player. He reached a career-high ranking of World No. 10 in April 2019. He won the first ever squash medal for India, a bronze in the singles and mixed doubles at the

Commonwealth Games The Commonwealth Games is a quadrennial international multi-sport event among athletes from the Commonwealth of Nations, which consists mostly, but not exclusively, of territories of the former British Empire. The event was first held in 1930 ...

Career

In 2013, Ghosal became the first

India India, officially the Republic of India, 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 by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

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 Under-19 Squash title, defeating Adel El Said of

Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...

in the final at

Sheffield, England Sheffield is a city in South Yorkshire, England, situated south of Leeds and east of Manchester. The city is the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire and some of its southe ...

. Ghosal moved to

Chennai Chennai, also known as Madras (List of renamed places in India#Tamil Nadu, its official name until 1996), is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Tamil Nadu by population, largest city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost states and ...

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 in West Yorkshire, England. It is the largest settlement in Yorkshire and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds Metropolitan Borough, which is the second most populous district in the United Kingdom. It is built aro ...

, 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 (; ) is the Capital city, capital of India and a part of the Delhi, National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT). New Delhi is the seat of all three branches of the Government of India, hosting the Rashtrapati Bhavan, New Parliament ...

. 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 Harinder Pal Sandhu (born 31 March 1989) is an Indian professional squash player. He reached a career-high world ranking of World No. 47 in April 2018. He was a part of the Indian team, who won the gold medal at the 2014 Asian Games held at I ...

(90). Ghosal won the bronze medal at the Asian Games 2006 Doha and was awarded the

Arjuna Award The Arjuna Award, officially known as Arjuna Awards given 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 Arjun ...

by the President of India in August 2007, thus becoming the first squash player from the country to get the award. Ghosal started playing squash in his hometown of Kolkata, at the Kolkata Racquet Club. He studied from the Lakshmipat Singhania Academy, 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 quarter-finals 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 for athletes of Asia. The Games were regulated by Asian Games Federation from the 1951 Asian Games, first Games in New Delhi, India in 1951, until ...

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 22 December 2021. In August 2022, Ghosal became the first Indian men's squash singles medallist at the

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

after he beat 2018 reigning champion James Willstrop 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 Lobban 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 New Zealand professional squash player. In March 2022, he became the first New Zealand man to achieve a world ranking of World No. 1. He is a two times British Open champion, having won this tournament ...

9-11, 4-11, 1-11 in the semi-final. In February 2025, Ghosal won his 11th PSA title after securing victory in the Sydney Classic during the

2024–25 PSA Squash Tour The 2024–25 PSA World Events is the international squash (sport), squash tour organised circuit organized by the Professional Squash Association (PSA) for the 2024–25 squash (sport), squash season. It's the 10th PSA season since the merger of ...

Personal life

Saurav married Diya Pallikal (sister of

Dipika Pallikal Karthik Dipika Pallikal (born 21 September 1991) is an Indian professional squash player. She was the first Indian player to break into the top 10 in the world rankings. Early life Pallikal was born in Kottayam into a Malayali family. She is the da ...

) on 1 February 2017.

References

External links