Squash | Harinder finds Lee too hot to handle

Malaysian Duncan Lee defeats Harinder Pal Singh Sandhu in straight games at Indian Tour Squash Championship.

Malaysian Duncan Lee (22) proved too good for the 35-year-old Harinder Pal Singh Sandhu as he secured a straight games victory in the men’s first round of the Indian Tour Squash Championship — a PSA Challenger event — at the Indian Squash and Triathlon Academy (ISTA) here on Monday.

It was neck-and-neck in the first game as the progression of the scoreline would indicate: 6-all, 7-all, 8-all, 9-all, 10-all, and 11-all. The margin of errors separated the two. Up 9-8, Lee hit the tin for Harinder to draw level. Lee found the tin once again, attempting to drop the ball to the bottom right corner, for Harinder to lead 10-9. Harinder made an unforced error in turn to make it 10-10, before making another on 11-12 to concede the game to Lee.

Lee was in his element in the second game. He seemed to hit the smash, drop, and low balls to break rallies and clinch points. Harinder had made three unforced errors and failed to retrieve a low ball when he was 1-5 down. Lee produced a backhand smash from close to the front wall to go 6-1 up. He hit three successive cross-court smashes when he went 10-7 up. And he closed out the game with a backhand drop to the bottom left corner.

In the third game, Lee looked undeniably the better player as he won 11-6.

The results (first round, Indians unless mentioned): Women: Shameena Riaz bt Akari Midorikawa (Jpn) 2-11, 12-10, 11-7, 6-11, 11-5; Nadien Elhammamy (Egy) bt Risa Sugimoto (Jpn) 11-1, 11-4, 11-7; Tanvi Khanna bt Lea Barbeau (Fra) 11-5, 11-5, 11-9; Sofia Mateos (Esp) bt Pooja Arthi Raghu 7-11, 11-8, 3-11, 11-8, 11-3; Lojayn Gohary (Egy) bt Nour Ramy (Egy) 11-8, 12-10, 11-5; Rathika Suthanthira Seelan bt Ambre Allinckx (Sui) 11-8, 10-12, 11-3, 3-11, 11-5; Malak Fathy (Egy) bt Colette Sultana (Malta) 11-9, 11-6, 11-9; Tessa ter Sluis (Ned) bt Erisa Sano Herring (Jpn) 11-9, 6-11, 8-11, 11-4, 11-6.

Men: Rahul Baitha bt Baptiste Bouin (Fra) 11-8, 7-11, 11-8, 11-7; Yusha Nafees bt Ammar Altamimi (Kuw) 11-4, 11-9, 13-11; Adballa Hafez (Egy) bt Mohit Bhatt 11-1, 11-2, 11-4; Seif El-Shenawy (Egy) bt Arihant Kalamangalam Sunil 10-12, 11-5, 11-7, 11-6; Tomotaka Endo (Jpn) bt Sandhesh Palanivel Ravikumar 5-11, 11-7, 12-10, 10-12, 11-6; Suraj Kumar Chand bt Om Semwal 11-5, 11-5, 11-6; Duncan Lee (Mal) bt Harinder Pal Singh Sandhu 13-11, 11-7, 11-6; Maceo Levy (Fra) bt Diwakar Singh 7-11, 11-5, 11-7, 11-7.