Mangaonkar wins IMET Open

MUMBAI: One of the fastest rising stars of Indian squash Mahesh Mangaonkar became the first Indian to win the IMET Open in the Slovakian capital of Bratislava on Monday.
With five-game victories over the event's top two seeds in the semifinal and the final, Mahesh made a breakthrough appearance in the sixth edition of the $5000 PSA World Tour Challenger 5 event.
Speaking to TOI from Belgium, the 19-year-old called it one of the most trying matches of his career. "I played Greg Lobban in the final. He's 15 places above me in the PSA rankings and was the second seed at the tournament," he said. "It took me a while to get warmed up because of the 98 minutes long semifinal I played the previous day against the top seed," said the teenager who only 24 hour ago had successfully battled the two-time champion and World No.72 Jan Koukal from the Czech Republic, 13-11, 11-8, 9-11, 7-11, 13-1.
"I was cramping throughout the semifinal. That's what made me sluggish in the finals," said Mahesh who recovered from losing the first game to finally win 7-11, 11-8, 11-4, 6-11, 11-7. "Later on I started working on his weaknesses. He couldn't play under pressure or handle slow pace. That's how my hard work paid off."
"The first 3 points But in the 4th game were really hard and got me tired pretty soon. So I decided to rest that by losing 11-6 and start fresh in the 5th," he explained.
Apart from the prize money, the win will catapult Mahesh to the top 70s. "My best has been World No. 83 this August-September," added the World No.98 Mumbai boy. "You won't see many Indian players in this level because they don't want to play professional squash and plus it's the smallest level of the challenger events.
"I am trying to do well in these small tournaments so my ranking goes up as fast as possible and then I get to enter in the World Series events," said the teenager who will play his next PSA event in Nimes, France within a fortnight. "I want to bring in the new year with a win. Hopefully I will make top 50 next season."