Junior squash: India clinch bronze

Doha - After his heroics against Hong Kong in the quarter-finals, Kush Kumar once again delivered the decisive point for India who went on to beat England 2-0 to clinch the bronze medal in the World Junior squash team championship here Wednesday.

After Kush Kumar defeated Richie Fallows 11-8, 11-8, 9-11, 13-11 in the first singles in 46 minutes, Mahesh Mangaonkar wrapped up the tie for India outplaying Ollie Holland 6-11, 11-0, 11-7, 11-7 in the second singles that lasted 54 minutes.

Kush had a great start, imposing his fast pace to push Fallows on the back foot, and took a 2-0 lead in the best-of-five contest.

However, Fallows was able to lengthen the rallies, put more weight on the ball and get the match to be played at the back, to win the third game.

In the fourth game, Fallows blew two game balls before committing errors and Kush scrambled through 13-11 after finding his length.

The Indian camp celebrated that win and they were probably right to do so as Mangaonkar, playing the second singles, had better results this week than his England rival Holland.

But as it happens, that’s when a player is more dangerous. Holland surprised everybody as he went for his shots to take the first game while Mangaonkar barely made his presence felt.

The Indian then put his foot on the pedal, and offered a nice bagel (11-0) to his opponent. The third was more balanced, but still going the Indian’s way, 11-7.

In the fourth, Holland was still confident and threatened Mangaonkar by taking a 4-1 lead. The Indian had to give it a big push to get back level. He went on to take 8-5 and 9-7 leads before a couple of stunning backhand drop shots sent Holland the wrong way, and Mangaonkar wrapped up the game and match at 11-7.