Saurav Ghosal wants to keep playing for another two years rules out administrative ambitions

Mumbai, Dec 11 (PTI) Indian squash star Saurav Ghosal on Wednesday said despite retiring from professional circuit, he wants to continue playing for another two years, but ruled out any ambitions of getting into the sport's administration.
     The only Indian player to enter top 10 rankings in the world, the 37-year-old Ghosal had announced his professional retirement in April this year.
     Ghosal says while he has no ambitions to enter administration, he certainly wants to set up academies around the country.
     "I don't think administration is my cup of tea at this point in time and I have no ambitions for it right now to be honest," Ghosal told PTI Videos in an exclusive interaction during Asics' merchandise launch of Tata Mumbai Marathon.
     "In terms of coaching, I want to set up academies around the country as much as I possibly can. Starting with the grassroots level and then maybe, one high performance centre to help all this talent that we are talking about."
     "I always said I still want to play for India. I do think I have a couple of few years left in me, so hopefully, I can make that comeback and do really well and win big things for India in the next few years," he said.
     Ghosal, who won 10 PSA titles and made an overall 18 appearances in the final, said current Indian players have the potential to do "really well".
     "There are a few potential players who can go on to do really well. They need the proper guidance from people who have been there, done that, at the very top," he said.
     "Of course, at the end of the day they have to put the work in. There is no substitute for the hard work and the consistency of that hardwork."
     "But all in all I think Indian squash is looking healthy and we can hope that we will continue to produce at the world level and bring back medals for India," he added.
     Ghosal won gold medals in the team events of 2014 Asian Games at Incheon and 2022 Asian Games in Hangzhou. He also has three medals — two bronze and a silver — in the Commonwealth Games.
     Ghosal said while the number of squash players has increased in the country, the need to reach out to the grassroots levels remain crucial.
     "The numbers have definitely increased from when I started. But having said that I think the more the numbers you have the probability that you are going to get more champions out of that," he said.
     "Getting it into schools is a way to increase the numbers at the grassroots level so that we have more numbers to choose from. We do have potential in the talent that we have right now. But if we have more then we are not complaining are we?," he said.
     Ghosal said it will be crucial for the young Indian players to do well in the ongoing World Squash Team Championships in Hong Kong.
     "The world teams' is a big event. It is a young team both on the boys and the girls' side," he said.
     "I really hope that if they can make top eight in the world with these teams being very young, it would be a good start to their careers playing for India at the senior level," he added.

(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)