Chennai is in the grip of a sizzling summer. With the day temperature hovering around 40 degrees Centigrade, the city has been experiencing a heat wave, not unusual for this part of the year. However at the cool climes of the Indian Squash Academy courts, thanks to air -conditioning, it was a different type of wave.
A wave of excitement and frenzy as some of the best juniors in the country worked to put their best foot forward as they went through a gruelling set of matches as part of selection trials conducted by the Squash Rackets Federation of India.
The idea was to raise a pool of the best available talent with a future in perspective and the forthcoming World and Asian junior Championships in particular.
After some hectic moments earlier during the Asian Championship held at the well known Express Mall, this was the next destination for the officials to virtually take stock of the available talent in the country. The trials came in handy and considering the optimism expressed over the depth of talent in the lower age group other than U-19, players in the U-17, U-15 and U-13 age group (boys and girls) were also invited to throw in their stuff.
The overall result was a revelation that heartened the National coach Cyrus Poncha and the Consultant Coach from Egypt, Achraf El Karargui. “There is a handful of juniors here who are already world class,” were the words of these two keen observers.
“If they are guided and nurtured well, these young players are sure to bring wonderful results in the coming years and a few podium finishes also in key international events,” Poncha said.
As it happened, five U-17 boys and seven girls (four U-17 and three U-15) joined the U-19 players for the trials. Expectedly there were surprises when the final outcome was assessed.
Except for the two U-19 familiar faces in boys, Abhay Singh and Aditya Raghavan who showed their prowess in no uncertain way, the rest of the places were taken by the U-17 force which included Tushar Shahani, Yash Fadte and Veer Chotrani for the Asian Juniors in Jordan.
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Aryaman Adik just missed out but he still remains in the scheme of things. In the girls’ section, Sunayna Kuruvilla, Ashita Bhengra, Aishwarya Bhattacharya, Akanksha Salunkhe made the cut while Sanya Vats and S. Samita also joined them to complete the entries for the world championships later.
Poncha said the Federation would not be sitting back with these happy tidings but is also working out plans to give these players every opportunity to grow on right lines and produce results with the World Juniors in Chennai next year as an immediate goal.
In this connection, it was decided that the players will be sent to Egypt, the country of squash champions, soon on a short training stint as part of the development schedule. Aside from that exposure, participation in major tournaments like the Cologne (Germany) and Dutch Open and the British Junior Open thereafter have also been planned.
What is significant of this current crop is that most of them have age in their favour to serve the junior section in various world level and Asian competitions for two to three years.
Nothing can enrich their experience better than this and help them get hardened for the tough competitions. India has rarely had this kind of rosy scenario before and all things thus point to productive times ahead.
