Grant Rises To The Indian Challenge

England's Adrian Grant claimed one of the biggest squash titles of his career when he beat Egyptian Hisham Mohd Ashour in the final of the PSA Indian Challenger No2 in Kolkata, India.

It was a dramatic climax to the $30,000 3-star PSA Tour event at The Calcutta Racket Club which was supported by the Union Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports.

Both players had reached the final unexpectedly - third seed Grant overcoming second-seeded Malaysian Mohd Azlan Iskandar in the semi-finals and Hisham Mohd Ashour, the No4 seed, upsetting favourite Ong Beng Hee, also from Malaysia.

But left-hander Grant, the world No13 from London, was too strong for his opponent in the final - beating world No29 Ashour 11-8, 11-5, 11-8 in 40 minutes.

Ashour, suffering with leg injury, led in all three games - but Grant was in no mood allow his opponent's ailment to affect his bid for victory.

"I could make out that he was not fully fit, so I just kept returning while he made the mistakes," said the 29-year-old England international afterwards.

"The win is quite reassuring, especially after having lost three finals so closely in the season," added Grant - runner-up this year not only in the British National Championships last month, but also in Tour events in Detroit and Kuala Lumpur.

The triumph takes Grant's career title tally to 16 - now making the Londoner the current Englishman with the most Tour titles, and second only in all-time to Peter Nicol, the former world number one from England who retired after collecting a total of 49 PSA Tour titles.

Final:
[3] Adrian Grant (ENG) bt [4] Hisham Mohd Ashour (EGY) 11-8, 11-5, 11-8 (40m)