Squash - Pragassen claims Bravo knockout competition |22 September 2015

Reigning squash player of the year Klaus Pragassen claimed his third title this season as he won the Bravo Ristorante knockout competition on Friday at the Mont Fleuri courts.

This second Bravo Ristorante-sponsored tournament had attracted almost 30 players with five women and once again Pragassen showed his class as he swept aside all his opponents to lift another title as he continued his domination since his comeback.

Pragassen had had a tough route to the final as he dumped plate finalist Zoltan Sugar, Rod Thorington and in the semifinal he defeated tennis coach Frederic Canale.

As for Ridvan Prosper, who won the Eden Island tournament early this year, he first beat Mickey Noel and then Rene Durup in the semifinal to set up another final against his great rival Pragassen.

However, Prosper never got going in the final as he lost in straight sets to Pragassen who was more clinical with his shots while he committed too many mistakes to lose the first set 7-11. The second set was a similar story and Pragassen claimed it 11-6 for a 2-0 lead.

In the third set, Pragassen piled on the pressure to ease to an easy victory 11-3 to lift another title after winning the HIS tournament and the Indian Ocean Island Games competition in Reunion where he was invited to take part in the demonstration sport.

Pragassen was pleased with his performance as he said he tried to vary his game which helped him to an easy victory.

“I did not expect this match to be so easy but my opponent played badly and I therefore capitalised on his mistakes with a variety of shots and I’m pleased with my performance,” Pragassen said.

As for Prosper, he admitted that he was erratic and failed to reach the level expected of himself in this final.

“It was just a bad day for me as I did not play well and I found it hard to adapt to my new racket but this is not an excuse as I lost concentration and was too tired so I’m very disappointed as it was one of my worst performances,” Prosper stated.

Houareau wins plate competition

In the plate final, Stefan Houareau came from a set down to win his second plate final

this season with a 3-1 set victory over Zoltan Sugar.

Houareau had disposed of Gregory Albert in the semifinal whereas Zoltan Sugar had knocked out Veronique Dupont to make it to the final.

Sugar won the first set 11-9 but Houareau then raised his game to claim the second set 11-6 and then again captured the next two 11-7 and 11-9 to win this match.

The trophies and cash prizes were presented to the winners by the Bravo Ristorante proprietor Brett Saunders in the presence of Seychelles Squash chairperson Natalie Houareau at the end of this very exciting one-week tournament.