HANGZHOU: The presence of Saurav Ghosal at multi-discipline events, like the seasons, is a constant. After making his debut in Doha in 2006 as a teen, Ghosal, now 37, the squash player has won almost everything. Inside the glass cage at the Hangzhou Squash Centre on Thursday evening, the Indian player was hunting for the one medal he needed to complete the collection — men’s singles gold at the Asian Games.
That feeling of yearning remained with him 72 minutes later. Malaysia’s Ng Eain Yow, after losing the first game, won too many of the big points to seal the final 9-11, 11-9, 11-5, 11-7. “The one medal I really wanted,” he said after the match. “I had put in everything. Don’t know if I’m going to have another shot (at winning the title). Very sad and disappointed. I guess if this is the last one, I can be proud. I gave it everything.”
While he has won team gold at the Asian Games (Incheon and last week), singles have caused him a lot of heartache. Third in Doha, Guangzhou and Jakarta and second in Incheon when he was a point away from wearing a shiny yellow disc around his neck.
It’s something he namechecked. “It’s a difficult question to answer now (has he played his last Asian Games),” he said. “The emotions are very raw. I don’t know myself whether I’m done or whether I’m going to be playing for three more years. It’s a decision to be made when things are a little calmer. After giving 90% of my life to this game… don’t think it would be fair on the game to make that decision right now.”
In a final dominated by long rallies and some questionable decisions, the momentum turned in the middle of the second game. After Ghosal had won the first stanza, he was looking to put a stamp of authority to proceedings. However, that’s when things slowly started sliding south. Over a five-minute period, all the 50-50 ‘let’ calls went the way of the Malaysian. After trying to argue with the judges, Ghosal only opted to stare at the judge instead.
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