Chennai, Feb 4 (IANS) Ramit Tandon Saturday pulled off a thrilling win over higher ranked Geoffrey Demont to put India against Egypt in the final of the WSF Under-21 World Cup squash championship here.
India, ranked No.4, will take on top seeds Egypt who earlier put out England 2-1 in the other semi-final that lasted a little over two hours.
Undoubtedly, it was one of best performances by the Indians in recent times as Tandon, ranked 334 to his opponent’s 131, displayed a lot of determination to snatch a dramatic win after the Frenchman saved four match-balls as the Indian stumbled at the finish before steadying himself to win the third singles 11-5, 6-11, 11-2, 14-12.
Earlier, Lucas Serme put France in the lead by winning the first singles against Ravi Dixit in four games, but World No.14 Dipika Pallikal put India on level terms by easily defeating Chloe Mesic in three games to set up a thrilling finale.
Tandon and Demont shared the first two games before the Indian took the third for a crucial 2-1 advantage. The Frenchman seemed to tire in the fourth game that was marked by long rallies and Tandon managed to stay in front.
Tandon led 10-7 when he faltered to allow Demont to stage a fightback to level at 10-10. The Indian again led 12-11 only to squander another match ball and buoyed by partisan support, Tandon eventually hung on to take the fourth game to set off massive celebrations.
The results:
Semi-finals: 4-India beat 3-France 2-1 (Ravi Dixit lost to Lucas Serme 6-11, 11-8, 6-11, 7-11; Dipika Pallikal bt Chloe Mesic 11-3, 11-3, 11-5; Ramit Tandon bt Geoffrey Demont 11-5, 6-11, 11-2, 14-12).
1-Egypt beat 2-England 3-1 (Marwan El Shorbagy bt Charles Sharpes 11-7, 12-14, 11-4, 11-5; Nour El Tayeb lost to Emily Whitlock 8-11, 10-12, 9-11; Karim Abdel Gawad bt Declan James 11-7, 11-8, 11-9).
For 5-8 placings – Hong Kong beat Germany 2-1 (Yeung Ho Wai bt Valentin Rapp 11-9, 11-9, 11-6; Karmen Siu lost to Annika Wiese 10-12, 9-11, 11-8, 11-8, 9-11; Wong Chi Him bt Sven Lemmermann 11-5, 11-9, 11-5).
Australia beat Malaysia 3-0 (Jamie McErvale bt Affeeq Aeefeen 9-11, 11-9, 11-5, 13-11; Sarah Cardwell bt Tan Yan Xin 11-6, 12-10, 11-9; Walter Koteka bt Sanjay Singh 6-11, 11-6, 11-9).
