Chennai: India's Akshay Deepak went down
fighting to top seeded Egyptian Islam El Fiky in the second
and final qualifying match of the Indian Challenger number
five here on Tuesday.
Akshay's 9-11, 11-2, 11-5, 6-11, 9-11 loss to world
number 412 Islam meant he was the lone Indian out of four who
could not make it to the main round from the qualifiers.
Islam now plays his country-mate and top seed Andrew
Wagih Shoukry in the first round of the main draw.
17-year-old Akshay, Indian Squash Academy trainee, was
leading 2-1 after the third game and looked well-set for a
win. In fact, Islam was looking for ideas to negotiate the
returns of Akshay, who rather easily won the second and third
games.
In the fourth game, Akshay was in his elements initially
but lost focus suddenly. In the decider too, Akshay was
leading 5-3 at one stage but he failed to maintain his pace.
Akshay managed to take a 9-7 lead again but made two
unforced errors to fritter away the match.
Bureau Report
First Published: Tuesday, November 17, 2009, 20:39