Sourav Ghosal and Joshna Chinappa won the men's and women's titles respectively at the 54th National squash championships in Delhi on Sunday.
World No. 50 Ghosal razed down fourth seed Gaurav Nandrajog 9-3, 9-2, 9-6 in a somewhat one-sided contest while 54th-ranked Joshna subdued a spirited challenge from Dipika Pallikal, winning 9-2, 9-5, 9-4 for her fifth straight triumph.
It was Ghosal's second national crown, which came after 44 minutes and fetched him Rs 40,000.
Nandrajog was a shadow of the player who had shocked top seed and world no. 41 Ritwik Bhattacharya in the semi-final on Saturday.
His good performance was restricted to the third game when he rebounded from being 0-7 down to make it 6-8 and saved five championship points before succumbing to his rival.
"I made too many unforced errors, and I lost the ball from my vision frequently," said the 21-year old local lad.
Nandrajog, who was playing in his maiden final, received the ultimate praise from his conqueror.
"Ritwik, Siddarth (Suchde) and me are the top three in the country, and by beating Ritwik, Gaurav has shaken the apple-cart. We have to be wary of him now because he has improved a lot," said Ghosal after the match.
Asked if he was jittery when the crowd got behind the underdog in the final game, Ghosal said, "No, I lost my concentration a bit. I didn't close the openings I got, instead I kept pushing the ball."
All said and done, would he have still settled for a title contest against Nandrajog instead of the top seed?
"Look, Ritwik is my close friend. I would have wanted him to win (the semifinal). But Gaurav trains with us (at the ICL Academy in Chennai), so it is okay.
"What mattered was it was a good final. And I won not because he played badly, but because I played well."
Joshna did not have it easy as the scoreline might suggest.
Fifteen-year-old Dipika showed her potential by taking the early leads in each game, and the former Asian junior champion had to draw from all her experience to nudge ahead.
