Malaysia Cup QFs: Asal Storms Past Ghosal

A clinical masterclass from top seed Mostafa Asal saw him power into the semi-finals of the Ace Malaysia Squash Cup at the expense of Indian veteran Saurav Ghosal.

37-year-old Ghosal didn’t do a lot wrong but he was unable to knock Asal off his stride, with a powerhouse performance from ‘The Raging Bull’ seeing him storm to an 11-4, 11-2, 11-6 victory.

Ghosal was always on the back foot as Asal blasted the ball accurately into the back corners regularly, and the Egyptian was able to find the nick on the occasions when Ghosal left the ball high and loose.

Asal is rewarded with a semi-final match against Ghosal’s compatriot – Ramit Tandon – following his upset win against No.3 seed Victor Crouin earlier today.

“I’m happy to be back playing matches, they give me a lot of confidence and this is only my third best of five match in four months,” said Asal afterwards.

“Saurav is so experienced and sharp. Look at his body at 37 years of age. I’m happy with my performance and to have my coaches in the seats here in front of me.

“All credit to Pontefract and Jimbo [James Willstrop], they’re helping me change my attitude a little bit.”

Asal has been working with Willstrop at the prestigious Pontefract Squash & Leisure Club to help him curb the movement issues that have seen him miss 18 weeks of action through suspension this calendar year.

Elaborating on his time in Pontefract, Asal said “It was brilliant, all the people there were so nice and I learned so many things there. My focus was to learn and to be another person because squash is perfect and I just need to change some little things.”

Looking ahead to his clash Tandon, Asal said: “We’re friends and we always joke with each other. He had a brilliant match before and it went to five, so I’m happy with this.”

Result

[1] Mostafa Asal (EGY) bt [5] Saurav Ghosal (IND) 3-0: 11-4, 11-2, 11-6 (43m)