Squash: Vijay Curtain-raiser competition |26 January 2015

Pragassen victorious despite tough match

Klaus Pragassen was made to fight hard to win the first trophy of the squash season after facing Ridvan Prosper in the Vijay Curtain-raiser final on Friday evening.

The competition had been going on all week long and on Friday three finals were played at the Mont Fleuri courts. The biggest one was the cup final between Pragassen and Prosper.

National Sports Council (NSC) chief executive Giovanna Rousseau, herself a former squash champion, and Vijay Construction managing director Vijay Patel, were among those in attendance.

It was Prosper who started the better of the two as he won the first set on an 11-6 score. Pragassen though came back to level the scores with an 11-5 second-set win and went on to take the lead with an 11-7 third-set win. Prosper wouldn’t go out without a fight though and he won the fourth set 11-8 to set up a fifth set showdown to decide a winner. Here things went back and forth, until eventually Pragassen emerged victorious from the contest, winning the final set 11-9 and the game 3-2.

“It was a tough final as Ridvan (Prosper) really upped his game and I had to work hard for the win today,” said Pragassen after the match.

The plate final, which puts together those eliminated during the first round, was played between Frank Dupont and Christophe Perrin. The more-experienced Dupont always looked the favourite for this contest and he showed his superiority by winning the first 11-2. The next sets were tougher, but Dupont still managed to win both on a score of 11-8 scores and finish the tie on a 3-0 score.

In the youth final, Lorenzo Graselli Barni won on a 3-0 (11-10, 11-2, 11-2) score against Jean-Yves Charlette.

S. N.