The Sports-India Community

Ritwik Bhattacharya has moved his base from UK to Mumbai and plans to make a comeback from his injury to his left knee.  Good luck Ritwik.

Life and love get squashed together

I didn't know that Neha Dhupia has been his girl-friend for 10 years. She is a pretty high-profile Bollywood actress.

Ritwik's commitment to squash is impressive, especially as the prize money is so paltry -- and it must be pretty difficult to make a decent living in pro squash.

At $6K NSC Super Satellite #3, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia ( 22 - 26 Nov 2007 )

[R1] (1) Ritwik Bhattacharya (IND,72) bt Fabien Verseille (FRA,246) 3-11 11-5 11-6 7-11 11-5 (41m)
[QF] (1) Ritwik Bhattacharya (IND,72) bt (7) Arshad Iqbal Burki (PAK,128) 11-7 11-8 8-11 11-2 (42m)
[SF] (1) Ritwik Bhattacharya (IND,72) bt (3) Nafiizwan Adnan (MAS,120) 11-10(10-8) 5-11 6-11 11-10(5-3) 11-9 (70m)

[F] (1) Ritwik Bhattacharya (IND,72) bt (4) Bilal Zaman (PAK,104) 11-6 9-11 9-11 11-9 11-9 (45m)

Ritwik won the title in this Satellite tournament ... He was top seed but this was his only 4th tournament after long injury break so being top seed wasn't easy thing for Ritwik.

Almost in a every match Ritwik stretched but he came out as a winner ... His match against local player in semis must be match of the tournament ... Winning these matches simply shows Ritwik's mental toughness and also importantly nice to see that his game is coming back.

Good to see Ritwik winning a tournament where he was the top seed, especially after the injury break.
But HOW does a pro squash player make ends meet?? This was a $6000 tournament??? I think the winner's purse wouldn't pay for the plane ticket to KL and back. I hope Ritwik has sponsorship from Air India or Jet Airways to enable him to fly free of charge -- otherwise playing pro squash seems like a major personal sacrifice...

At $82K Tournament of Champions, New York, USA

[Q1] Ritwik Bhattacharya (IND,61) Bye
[Q2] Ritwik Bhattacharya (IND,61) bt Gilly Lane (USA,117) 5-11 11-3 11-7 8-11 11-5 (59m)

[R1] Ritwik Bhattacharya (IND,61) l (6) John White (SCO,9) 4-11 3-11 8-11 (24m)

At $15K Talisman Energy Bankers Hall Club Pro Am 2008, Calgary, Canada

[R1] (4) Ritwik Bhattacharya (IND,61) l Chris Gordon (USA,74) 7-11 16-14 11-3 8-11 1-11 (85 mins)

Ritwik scored good fighting win against top-50 player ... Now he need to beat top-40 American to move in to maindraw.

At $200K Kuwait Open

[Q1] Ritwik Bhattacharya (Ind,64) bt Aaron Frankcomb (Aus,49) 11-4 11-9 11-6 (53m)

[Q2] Ritwik Bhattacharya (Ind,64) vs Julian Illingworth (Usa,39)

No magic in second qualifying round for Ritwik.

At $200K Kuwait Open

[Q2] Ritwik Bhattacharya (Ind,64) l Julian Illingworth (Usa,39) 7-11 4-11 9-11 (42m)

Good to see one win over a top-50 player nonetheless. Does he get any points or prize money for his efforts, I wonder?

Yes, with his recent good performance Ritwik moved on #58.

Ritwik Bhattacharya beat top seed and world no.11 Malaysian Mohd. Azlan Isakandar in the title match of the Bombay Gymkhana-HSBC Maharashtra State Open Squash championship. Rithwik won 12-10, 11-9, 11-1

I don't follow squash much bit this seems to be a very impressive win. Between, what is world no.11 doing here in a state championship? Is it for the 6 lakh prize money?

Ritwik's struggle continued, he lost against almost similar ranked Frenchman in straight games at World Games.

At World Games 2009, Kaohsiung, Taiwan

[R1] Ritwik Bhattacharya (IND,56) l (13) Julien Balbo (FRA,51) 2-11 21-23 6-11 (49m)

Ritwik is playing in PSA Masters.

At $152K Punj Lloyd PSA Masters 2009, Mumbai, India

[R1] (WC) Ritwik Bhattacharya (IND,148) vs (10) Alister Walker (ENG,13)

Is Ritwik coming back from injury? I didn't realise that he had dropped out of the top 100. By the way, Siddharth Suchde has recently entered the top 100.

Not sure about any injury but recently Ritwik reduced his schedule ... In last ranking update he dropped more than 70 positions.