Wildcard Tandon Upsets Al Tamimi to Reach CCI International Quarter-Finals

Tournament wildcard Ramit Tandon pulled off the shock of the first round as he beat Qatar’s World No.43 Abdulla Mohd Al Tamimi as the main draw of the JSW Indian Squash Circuit CCI International got under way.

India’s World No.201 Tandon took the first game, before Tamimi levelled the scores in the second. However, from that moment on it was all Tandon as he took the next two games 11-4 and 11-3 and will now face top seed Borja Golan after he beat Welsh qualifier Peter Creed 11-7, 7-11, 11-7, 11-2 in round one.

Egyptian qualifier Mazen Gamal also got his tournament off to a strong start, beating number four seed Omar Abdel Meguid after the latter was forced to retire.

Gamal managed to come back from 1-0 down to take the next two games 11-7 and 11-3 before Meguid was forced to retire from the match in the fourth, handing victory to the qualifier, who had beaten India’s Ravi Dixit and England’s Alex Noakes to reach the main draw.

Fellow qualifier Harinder Pal Singh Sandhu also secured a quarter-final berth as he beat Malaysia’s World No.46 Ivan Yuen in four games.

Sandhu overturned a 1-0 deficit to come through 4-11, 11-6, 11-2, 11-3 in 51 minutes and will now face number two seed Omar Mosaad – who comfortably made it past America’s Todd Harrity in straight games – in the next round.

Meanwhile, Welsh World No.42 Joel Makin enjoyed a good result in the first round as he saw off England’s World No.36 Chris Simpson in a testing five-game encounter that saw the duo battle it out for 84 minutes on court.

Makin took a 2-1 lead before Simpson battled back to take the fourth and push the match to a decider, with the Welshman clinching victory 11-7 in the fifth and he will now face India’s Saurav Ghosal – who downed England’s Joshua Masters in straight games – in the quarter-finals.

Elsewhere, Switzerland’s Nicolas Mueller comfortably secured a quarter-final spot as he knocked out Kuwait’s Ammar Altamimi in 39 minutes to win 11-7, 8-11, 11-5, 11-7.

Watch the action from the quarter-finals here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCPYzRyW5kTy3cRM0VplfPgw/feed

Results – Round One
[Q] Harinder Pal Singh Sandhu (IND) bt [7] Ivan Yuen (MAS) 3-1: 4-11, 11-6, 11-2, 11-3 (51m)
[Q] Mazen Gamal (EGY) bt [4] Omar Abdel Meguid (EGY) 3-1: 4-11, 11-7, 11-3, 8-4 retired (51m)
Joel Makin (WAL) bt [6] Chris Simpson (ENG) 3-2: 11-8, 8-11, 11-6, 8-11, 11-7 (84m)
[5] Nicolas Mueller (SUI) bt [Q] Ammar Altamimi (KUW) 3-1: 11-7, 8-11, 11-5, 11-7 (39m)
[WC] Ramit Tandon (IND) bt [8] Abdulla Mohd Al Tamimi (QAT) 3-1: 11-7, 4-11, 11-4, 11-3 (45m)
[2] Omar Mosaad (EGY) bt Todd Harrity (USA) 3-0: 11-9, 11-8, 11-9 (42m)
[3] Saurav Ghosal (IND) bt [Q] Joshua Masters (ENG) 3-0: 11-4, 11-2, 11-3 (24m)
[1] Borja Golan (ESP) bt [Q] Peter Creed (WAL) 3-1: 11-7, 7-11, 11-7, 11-2 (62m)

Draw – Quarter-Finals (starts 18:00 local time (GMT :30)
[WC] Ramit Tandon (IND) v [1] Borja Golan (ESP)
Joel Makin (WAL) v [3] Saurav Ghosal (IND)
[2] Omar Mosaad (EGY) v [Q] Harinder Pal Singh Sandhu (IND)
[Q] Mazen Gamal (EGY) v [5] Nicolas Mueller (SUI)