Dipika Pallikal

Reality check for Indian juniors

Article in HindustanTimes (January 8, 2008) New Delhi

INDIANS PLAYERS were brought down to earth after their 'superb' performance in the Scottish Junior Open squash tournament in late December last year. Barring Anwesha Reddy and eventual U-17 champion Dipika Pallikal, all exited before the semifinal round in the British Open which was held at Sheffied immediately after the Scottish sojourn.

The chief consultant coach, S. Maniam, had told the Hindustan Times after the 'great' performance at the Scottish Open, that he was hopeful of a good performance in England too. However, things seem to have gone terribly awry. Maniam had said that the Scottish Open would serve to acclimatise the players for the tougher British Open. The Indians had won a whopping four age-group titles and finished runners-up in two categories.

On January 3, HT had quoted Squash Racquet Association of Malaysia (SRAM) president Datuk Sani Karim as saying that the Scottish Open was a 'low-grade' tournament and that the SRAM would prefer spending money in a better way.

At the British Open, Pallikal, who left the SRFI-ICL academy in Chennai and is now training under Egyptian coach Amir Wagih, was the only bright spot as she won the U-17 title beating defending champion for the last five years, Heba El Torky. She had skipped the Scottish Open.

Barring Reddy who exited in the quarterfinal, the rest could not go beyond the third round (Pre-quarterfinals) (see box).

Maniam, however, put up a brave front. "I am extremely satisfied with the performance," he said adding, "Dipika won the U-17 gold which is a major achievement, while Anwesha Reddy entered the quarterfinals of the Under-17 category…the players had performed to expectation."

Interestingly, the other player to do well at the British Open was Aditya Jagtap, who too did not take part in the Scottish Open. He was a bit unlucky but his achievements were no less commendable, considering that he beat Pakistani U-17 champion and second-seed Farhan Zaman 3-2 and lost in the quarterfinals to Egyptian Karim Abdel Gawad in a marathon 83-minute match. Gawad went on to win the tournament by beating the top seeded player of his country.
Comparison

A COMPARISON

Joshna lauds Deepika’s feat
Article in The Times of India, Mumbai : 09/01/2008

“Brilliant, great news for Indian Squash,” Were the Words with which India squash queen Joshna Chinappa reacted to the triumph of her sparring partner Deepika Pallikal in the U-17 event of the British Junior Open at Abbeydale in Sheffield U.K. on Sunday.

Deepika, who beat Egyptian top seed Hebael Torky, emulated Joshna who won the same title in 2003. Joshna reached the u-19 final in 2004 as a 17-year-old and won the u-19 title in 2005 a year after Saurav Ghoshal won the boys u-19 title.

“She took a game off me at the Nationals final in 2006, she’s improved,” said Joshna who’s back from South Africa where she worked with a sports a psychologist and is training for the China Open, a grade II event.

Joshna had taken six years to win her first title. Deepika had been attempting for five years, never getting past the last eight. This time too Canadian top seed Laura Hemmell looked like coming in the way but Deepika hung on to win the quarterfinal tie, three of the four games going to extra points. Deepika, the dusky beauty, is also a successful model and has had Tamil film offers. But mother Susan, a former India women’s cricketer, kept her focus on squash sending her to Egypt for training with top coaches like Mohammed Essam Saleh.

Deepika’s grandma represented Kerala state in athletics, grandpa represented three states in basketball, father played cricket for his college and mother Susan for India and sister Diya plays basketball. Deepika won the Dutch, French, Australian and Scottish Opens but not the British until she broke the five-year jinx Sunday.

Mahesh Bhupathi’s Globosport and her parents have spared nothing to make Deepika’s game grow. They have rented an apartment in Cairo all year round so that Deepika can train there from time to time.

Deepika wins British Junior u-17 title

7th January 2008 : By Pradeep Vijayakar

Deepika beat Egyptian top seed Heba El Torky 9-6,5-9,9-6,1-9,9-5 to win the British Junior Open U-17 title at Abbeydale in U.K. Deepika was seeded 5-8.She had won a battle royale against Canadian second seed Laura Gemmell 9-10,9-4,10-9,10-9.

For years Deepika Pallikal was in the shadow of Joshna Chinappa. Now she is finally out of it and has gone one better by beating an Egyptian. Joshna has usually come a cropper against her Egyptian arch-rival, Omneya.

One remembers seeing a young Deepika in events in Mumbai. She was the dusky beauty. It was sad to see her in tears losing to Anwesha an u-15 final at the Little Masters. But the smile was back when she won the u-17 final beating Anwesha. Anwesha was also there at Abbeydale losing in the last eight. Dipika Rebecca Pallikal, to give her full name, was born on September 21. Sport runs in the family.

Grandmom represented Kerala state in athletics, grandpa represented three states in basketball. Father played cricket for his college and mother Susan represented India in cricket. One sister Diya plays basketball while the other Divya’s sport is cheering Deepika.

Deepika had won the German, Indian ever to break into the top 100 of squash (WISPA ranking) rankings rising to a Dutch, French, Australian and Scottish Opens but not the British in five attempts. She is only the second career-high 91 in May 2007.

Her family and Mahesh Bhupathi’s Globosport spared nothing to make her game grow. They had an apartment in Cairo where she trained from time to time.

Deepika was offered to star in Tamil movies which she refused for the moment as squash was her passion. The year 2001 was the turning point in her career. She gave up tennis for squash. From the age of nine she was guided by Cryus Poncha. She gave notice by beating the boys of her age. She got membership to the India Cements Squash Academy in 2002. She became the National Champion at the age of 11 and never looked back.

Indians play as the best stay away
(Article in Hindustan Times, Delhi : 3rd January 2008)

THE 'SUPERB' performance of Indian squash players in the Scottish Junior Open, which concluded on December 31, may be heartening news for the country's squash fraternity. So what if the Squash Racquet Association of Malaysia (SRAM) put it in the category of 'low-rate' events and decided conserving resources and not sending a team.

Six Indian in various age-groups entered finals and five of them Sandeep Ramchandran (U-11), Mahesh Mangaonkar (U-15), Karan Malik (U-17), Harinderpal Singh (U19) and Anwesha Reddy (U-17) emerged champions. But the fact that a country like Malaysia, known for producing world-class players, gave it the go-by and concentrate on the British Open, which kicked off on Wednesday, instead flies in the face of the competitiveness of the Scottish Open.

In an article in the Malaysian daily 'The Star' SRAM president Datuk Sani Karim has been quoted as saying that, "Our players won honours in the Scottish Junior Open in the absence of top players. But when they compete in the British Junior Open (immediately after the Scottish Open), they get knocked out in early rounds. It's no point basking in the glory of a low-rate meet and then do badly in a more prestigious championship," Sani Karim was quoted as saying.

The SRAM president added that, "Our objective is to expose players to high-level tournaments and see where they stand against the best in the world… It's better to train at home and use the money for other top-class tournaments. We want our players to continue improving on their game and rankings and, to achieve that, they need to get the correct exposure."

English and European juniors share SRAM's view. In none of the eight categories barring one did any top 10 player of the Europe Squash Federation participate. Even the English ignored it this age-group tournament. The top and second seeds in the boys' U-19 at the Scottish Open were ranked 12th and 36th respectively by the European Squash Federation (ESF).

National consultant coach S. Maniam said from Chennai: "The Scottish Open is a good international tournament. Every national federation has its priorities. The SRAM might be having their own priorities."

Asked if the Indians would bring the same laurels in the British Open, which began on Wednesday, he replied in the affirmative. "They have been acclimatised for the British Open in Scotland and that's what we wanted." Time will tell.