Abhay wins men’s title; Sunayna goes down in women’s final
In another one-sided match, the women’s final, the fifth-seeded Sunayna suffered a 7-11, 2-11, 6-11 loss at the hands of top seed Kenzy Ayman from Egypt in 23 minutes.
CHENNAI: Abhay Singh went all the way, but fellow local hope Sunayna Kuruvilla fell in the last hurdle at the HCL SRFI Indian Tour Chennai leg PSA tournament, which witnessed only 45 minutes of action on the final day.
In the lop-sided men’s title decider that went on for just 22 minutes, the fourth-seeded Abhay thrashed third seed Khaled Labib of Egypt in straight games – 11-4, 11-3, 11-4. The 24-year-old Abhay was too hot to handle on his home patch – the Indian Squash Academy here – as he let his opponent score only 11 points in total.
In another one-sided match, the women’s final, the fifth-seeded Sunayna suffered a 7-11, 2-11, 6-11 loss at the hands of top seed Kenzy Ayman from Egypt in 23 minutes.
After crushing World No.101 Khaled, World No.96 Abhay could not hide his excitement. “I feel very good. My last two outings here [in PSA tournaments in 2021] did not go my way. It is good to come here and win,” said Abhay, who was third time lucky. “I have played on this court for the last 15 years. If there is one court I want to play on, it is this,” he added.
“Things went my way today (Friday). I thought that I was playing really well. Defeating two tough opponents in the quarter-finals (Velavan Senthilkumar) and semi-finals (top seed Yassin Elshafei of Egypt) gave me a lot of confidence. Physically, I consider myself to be fit. I just had to trust my body [in the final].”
Meanwhile, Sunayna was gracious in defeat. “It was a hard match. Going into the match, I had a lot of expectations. But, it was just not my day. She (Kenzy) played really well; she played out of her skin. That being said, I never found myself on court. I was bothered about things which I should not have. My gameplan did not work, so I was rattled,” said Sunayna.
On her part, World No.61 Kenzy said: “She (Sunayna) is a tough girl. If I had known that she is from the host city, I would have gone ‘Oh my God!’. It is good that I did not know (laughs). I focused on my plan. I wanted to win this match. It was a nice tournament.”
RESULTS: Final: Men: Abhay bt Khaled 11-4, 11-3, 11-4. Women: Sunayna lost to Kenzy 7-11, 2-11, 6-11
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