Indian squash legend Saurav Ghosal leaves Hangzhou with a dream unfulfilled, but his head held high – Times of India

HANGZHOU: A tear almost rolled down his cheek. Dabbing the corner of his eye, Saurav Ghosal gathered himself. Something that he wanted so badly across two decades and six Asian Games editions had once again eluded him.
The 37-year-old, face of Indian men’s squash for a long time, has perhaps put in the hardest yards for an individual Asian Games gold medal since his debut in the continental showpiece in 2002. On Thursday, in what are likely to be his last appearance at the Games, that goal still remained a dream.
At Incheon nine years ago, Saurav Ghosal won the first two games in the final against Kuwait’s Abdullah Al-Muzayen, before losing the next three to finish with an agonising silver medal. On Thursday in Hangzhou, Saurav once again couldn’t thwart his opponent’s comeback bid.
Malaysia’s Ng Eain Yow lost the first game 9-11, but won the next three 11-9, 11-5, 11-7 to leave Saurav with tears in his eyes.
“I can be proud if this is my last one but I can walk into the sunset with my head held high after the effort I had put in,” said the veteran, who is still full of youthful stimulus and exuberance, besides the teenage looks and fitness which can match that of any young athlete.

It will take some time, after a heartbreaking finish, for Saurav to sit down and assess the road ahead, but a ninth Asian Games medal, even though there are no golds in that tally, is legendary stuff. Even if he walks into the sunset with an unfulfilled dream and the disappointment that the sport couldn’t make it to the Olympic roster during his professional career.
“That missing gold will always be felt, even when I finish. It’s something I really, really wanted. I was very close in 2014, and it went away. I think I was very close today and things didn’t roll my way,” he said.
“I have a lot of things to be thankful for, both on and off the court. I am just grateful for that,” he continued, clearing the lump in his throat. “It’s going to be hard but I am strong enough to deal with it.”
At that point a tear almost rolled down his cheek, before he collected himself to take the next question.
Saurav, along with Harinder Pal Singh Sandhu, Abhay Singh and Mahesh Mangaonkar, also won the men’s team gold medal in Hangzhou, after which his teammates were seen lifting him on his shoulder as a send-off of sorts that they wanted to give to the legend of Indian men’s squash who also has three World Championships medals under his belt.

But for himself personally, Saurav was eyeing an individual gold medal, especially if this turns out to be his last match at the Asian Games or of his professional career.
“For a long time I didn’t have the men’s (individual) gold medal (across tournaments) in my collection, but we won the team gold earlier this week. These two weeks have gone pretty much according to plan except this last moment,” said Saurav, who also has three Commonwealth Games medals on his CV.
“I feel I should be pretty grateful for everything else and not dwell so much on what has happened,” he said.
India finished its squash campaign with five medals, including two gold in men’s team and mixed team (Harinder Pal Singh Sandhu and Dipika Pallikal), besides a silver and two bronze medals.

It was the second best among the competing nations (based on gold-medal count) in the discipline, with Malaysia topping the charts with three gold.
“You can’t have everything in life. The individual (gold) didn’t happen to me, but overall for the Indian squash contingent, it has gone pretty well. We have done justice to the talent that we have in the squad,” said Saurav.
“For me, of course, there is a tinge of disappointment with the silver medal in individual. But as I said, I have to be grateful for everything else that has happened over the last two weeks, and not be so hard on myself sometimes.”
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