India’s highest-ranked squash player Saurav Ghosal will not play in the senior national championship in New Delhi in December as he has opted to rest after a long season.
The defending champion posted a message on Twitter saying he has decided not to participate in the Nationals this year after an “extremely busy” international season, which included the Commonwealth Games and Asian Games.
Ghosal, 32, claimed he has played in every national championship since he was 17 and it was “with a very heavy heart” that he had taken the decision to skip it. Ghosal is a 12-time national champion.
Ghosal, ranked 11th in the world in singles, played 13 tournaments on the Professional Squash Association tour apart from the Commonwealth Games and Asian Games. He had won the Indian Open in February.
“I feel it is in my best interest to rest my body and mind at the end of a gruelling year of competing,” wrote Ghosal. “I believe this break will help me prepare in the best possible way for the new season starting in January 2019.”
He added, “You can [be] rest assured I have not taken this decision lightly and fully appreciate the significance of playing the Nationals.”
The last tournament Ghosal played in was the Qatar Classic last week, where he lost in the third round.
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