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Ghosal, Dipika to spearhead India's challenge at British Open

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Press Trust of India New Delhi
Top players Saurav Ghosal and Dipika Pallikal will spearhead India's challenge at the Allam British Open beginning in Hull, England tomorrow which will feature cream of the international squash fraternity.

The May 20-26 championship will mark the return of the world's most prestigious squash tournament to Yorkshire for the first time for almost 40 years.

Pallikal, World No.15, will play her opening match against Denmark's Line Hansen, ranked 22nd, at the KC Stadium on Tuesday while Ghosal, World No.19, will lock horns against a qualifier tomorrow and is drawn to meet fourth seed Gregory Gaultier of France in the second round.
 

Pallikal, who had become the first Indian to break into the top-10 of world rankings last December, has been training hard for the tournament with her coach and five-time World Open winner Sarah Fitz-Gerald.

Another Indian and Pallikal's Chennai teammate, Joshana Chinappa will have to play the qualifiers before making the main draw.

The British Open, the fourth PSA World Series event of the year, will take place for the first time at the KC Stadium in the English city of Hull. It was in 1974 that the British Open was last staged in Yorkshire - in World No.2 Nick Matthew's home city of Sheffield, where Australian Geoff Hunt won his second of a then record eight titles.

In last year's British Open final at the London O2 Arena, Matthew beat Egyptian Ramy Ashour to become the first Englishman in the event's 82-year history to win the trophy for a third time.

Ashour, now the World No.1, went on to win seven Tour events in a row - and build up a 36-match unbeaten run which he will look to extend in Hull. He and Matthew are seeded to meet again in the KC Stadium climax on Sunday.

"I am very excited for the world of squash to descend on Yorkshire," said second seed Matthew as he fine-tuned his preparations to compete in his seventh British Open since 2002.

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First Published: May 19 2013 | 7:40 PM IST

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