Sandhu falls at the final hurdle

Higher-seeded Harinder Pal Sandhu went down to England’s Declan James in the final of the final of the USD 10,000 Christchurch International squash tournament here today. James, who was the <g data-gr-id="9">runner up</g> in the previous event in Palmerston North in New Zealand, won 8-11 12-10 11-9 11-6 in 67 minutes. It was a contest of contrasting styles. While the tall James was exquisite in his movements and pick ups, the Indian was quicker on the court.  When Sandhu shot his way up grabbing the first game with his power-packed returns, unforced errors cost him from there.  He lost a close second and led 7-3 in the third and the score read 9-9.