Winning individual gold is my aim, says Saurav Ghosal

Mumbai: Squash star Saurav Ghosal is eyeing the elusive individual gold medal at the forthcoming Asian Games. India’s No. 1 squash player will make his fourth appearance at the quadrennial event and has brought home a medal on every occasion.

He reached the final at the last edition in 2014 Incheon, but eventually settled for a silver in the men’s singles competition. In the team even though, Ghosal grabbed a gold along with Harinder Pal Sandhu, Mahesh Mangoankar and Kush Kumar. In the earlier editions, he had claimed an individual bronze each at the 2010 Guangzhou Games and in Doha 2006.

Ghosal, who turned 32 on Friday, is the senior-most member in the squash contingent with a world ranking of 12.

“I don’t know if these are my last (Asian Games),” Ghosal said. “Obviously, I want do well for India and myself and winning an individual gold is my aim,” he said.

This year, Ghosal has not seen the best of results. He was ousted in the second round at the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games in April and faced a second round exit at the British Open in May.

In the run-up to the Asian Games, he trained along with David Palmer at the Cornell University in USA and then returned to his coach Malcolm Willstrop in Leeds before joining the Asian Games camp in Chennai.

“At the Games, it will come down to implementing what I have learnt so far. I am quite positive going into Asian Games that will start the new season.”