Kush Kumar, Lakshya Ragavendran win Indian Junior Open squash

Kush Kumar and Lakshya Ragavendran emphasized their strength in the under-19 section by retaining the respective titles though in contrasting style at the Indian Junior Open held at at the Indian Squash Academy.

While Kumar continued to show exemplary touch, something that had made him the first male player to from India to reach the quarterfinal in the recent World junior championship in Namibia, Lakshya had to dig into her reserves to ensure victory. While Kumar downed the promising Ranvijay Singh, Lakshya edged Malaysian Aika Azman in the five-game final.

Equally emphatic was another ISA pupil Velavan Senthilkumar who had the measure of the Dhampur boy Ranjit Singh in the U-17 section while Akanksha Salunkhe’s impressive run in the girls’ section continued as she made short of her 5-10 arrears in the deciding fifth game to oust the Hong Kong player Cheng Nga Ching. Deservedly she won a big round of applause for her grand effort.

Of the foreign players, the Malaysians had something to remember in the girls’ section. Aifa Azman and Sehveetraa Kumar provided the success stories.V.K. Jeyakodi, Member-Secretary, SDAT was the chief guest and gave away the prizes.

The results: final:Boys: U-19: Kush Kumar (Tn) bt Ranvijay Singh (Tn) 11-9, 11-9, 11-6; U-17: Velavan Senthilkumar (Tn) bt Ranjit Singh (Up) 11-4, 11-9, 11-4; U-15: Jesse Kok Sheng Foo (MAL) bt Mohd Hafiz Zhafri Abdul Harif (MAL) 11-7, 11-3, 11-2; U-13: Yash Fadte (Goa) bt S. Navaneeth Prabhu (Tn) 13-11, 11-8, 11-6; U-11: Jeh Pando ve (Mah) bt Ameeshenraj Chandran (MAL) 8-11, 11-3, 11-4, 11-7.

Girls: U-19: Lakshya Ragavendran (Tn) bt Aika Azman (MAL) 11-8, 6-11, 11-6, 6-11, 11-9; U-17: Akanksha Salunkhe (Goa) bt Cheng Nga Ching (HKG) 11-9, 7-11, 11-8, 7-11, 12-10; U-15: Nikita Joshi (Mah) bt Amita Gondi (Ap) 11-8, 11-9, 7-11, 12-10; U-13: Aifa Azman (MAL) bt Samita Sivakumar (Tn) 11-5, 11-6, 11-3; U-11: Sehveetrra Kumar (MAL) bt Nur Waffah Khairul Tajudin (MAL) 11-5, 11-4, 11-4