at the Imet Squash Centrum,
Slovakia capital Bratislava.
Mahesh Mangaokar is 1st Indian
IMET open winner in Slovakia: 15 Dec 13
Five-game victories over the event's top two seeds led
to Mahesh Mangaonkar becoming the first Indian winner of
the PSA IMET Open, the PSA World Tour Challenger 5
squash event marking its sixth year at the Imet Squash
Centrum in the Slovakia capital Bratislava.
The
19-year-old World No.98 from Mumbai (India) made his
breakthrough in the semi-finals where he downed two-time
champion Jan Koukal, the top seed from the Czech
Republic expected to make his fourth final appearance in
six years, 13-11, 11-8, 9-11, 7-11, 13-11 in 98 minutes.
Third seed Mangaonkar then lined up against
defending champion Greg Lobban, the No.2 seed from
Scotland who was celebrating his third successive
appearance in a Tour final. Despite his heroics less
than 24 hours earlier, the Indian teenager was still
able to call upon reserves to recover from losing the
first game to take a 2/1 lead.
Edinburgh-based
Lobban, ranked 82 in the world, dug deep to take the
fourth to force a fifth game decider.
But
Mangaonkar refused to give up, reclaiming the advantage
to close out the match 7-11, 11-8, 11-4, 6-11, 11-7
after 77 minutes to take the title.
"The turning
point of this final was in the second set, where I
started to move properly on the court," said the
jubilant Mahesh after the second Tour title triumph of
his career.
"I was happy to win the third, rested
a bit in fourth and fought back in fifth. Squash is also
a mental game and I gave it all I had in the final set."
