Mohali player Harinder Pal Sandhu won five PSA Tour titles last year. The 28-year-old player is in the Indian squash team for Asian Games . Sahil Walia
28-year-old Mohali squash player Harinder Pal Sandhu has fond memories of Asian Games. In the 2014 Asian Games in Incheon, South Korea, the Punjab player was part of the gold medal winning Indian team. Even though Sandhu lost in the pre-quarters in the individual category in Incheon, Sandhu is aiming for an improved performance in the individual event this time apart from being confident of repeating the 2014 feet in the team event. Sandhu also spent more than 20 days in Pontefract, England training under coach Malcolm Willstrop and he counts the experience as a learning one.
“Training in Europe is always challenging and I trained along with Saurav Ghosal under coach Malcolm Willstrop. We worked things like controlling the pace of the ball apart from racquet swing apart from trying different angles. Malcolm’s son James Willstrop, who is a former world number one, also trained at the academy and seeing him train also helped me. The last one week saw us train at the Indian Squash Academy in Chennai and I am confident about my game ahead of the squash events in Asian Games,” shared Sandhu.
Last year saw Sandhu winning five PSA Tour titles. The Punjab player won the Malaysian Squash Tour IX Leg apart from winning the Second Nissan Open followed by a title win in the South Australian open. Sandhu then won the Victoria Open before winning the Malaysian Squash Tour Xth leg in September. This year has seen Sandhu reached the final in the SquashGym International Squash Classic Championship in New Zealand apart from competing in British Open qualifiers.
“Teams from Malaysia, Hing Kong and Korea will pose a threat in the team event for us. When we won the gold medal in 2014 against Malaysia, it was a important win in our career and this time too, we will be aiming for winning the title. Players from Korea are known for their fitness and we have to aware of things like these. Playing consistently and focusing on the right areas in the court will be key.
In the individual event, Saurav Ghosal will be top-ranked player apart from players like Nafizwan Adnan from Malaysia and I will aim for improving my 2014 performance,” shared Sandhu, who is currently ranked 59th in the world. The Punjab player has so far won a total of ten PSA titles and will be playing in Hong Kong and china next month. “Playing on the PSA Tour events in Asia as well Europe helps me to adjust my game according to the situation. Winning five titles last year was a major boost for my career and it helped me to break into the top 70 players in the world. I will be playing in Hong Kong and China next month. Currently, I am without a job and managing finances for competing in other countries poses a challenge,” shared Sandhu.