Akanksha stuns Aishwarya, qualifier Krish Kapur fashions another upset

Fancied Akanksha Salunkhe of Goa fashioned a morale-boosting win when she shocked higher ranked Aishwarya Bhattacharya of Maharashtra to storm into the girls under-15 semi-finals of the Junior & Sub Junior National Championship, concurrently being held with the 69th CCI-Western India Open Squash Tournament, at the Cricket Club of India, on Friday.

Salunkhe, seeded in the fifth to eighth slot, overcame Bhattacharya, seeded third/fourth, in straights sets, but not before all three sets ended in tight finishes, with the first two extending into extra points.

Iran Open winner Salunkhe’s win over Bhattacharya has aided a grand recovery following her shock loss to lower ranked Nikita Joshi of Mumbai in the quarter-finals of the Maharashtra State Open. That was a huge setback for the title contender which she never recovered from until today’s effort that has gone a long way in restoring her confidence.

Qualifier Krish Kapur of West Bengal, who stunned third/fourth seed Abhay Singh of Tamil Nadu in the pre-quarter-finals, continued his giant-killing run when he upset another Tamil Nadu lad Vikas Mehra 3-1 to enter the boys’ under-15 semi-finals. Kapur lost the opening set but never gave up, recovering brilliantly to win three in a row for another memorable win.

Boys under-19 third/fourth seed Ranvijay Singh of Tamil Nadu survived a scare from fifth/eighth seed Divij Singh Kadan of Delhi when he snatched a 3-2 win by the skin of his teeth after leading 2-0.

Meanwhile, in the CCI-Western India Open, men’s top seed David Letourneau of Canada led second seed Mahesh Mangaonkar and the other seeds, Ravi Dixit and Kush Kumar of Tamil Nadu into the semi-finals.

Favourite Anaka Alankamony of Tamil Nadu expectedly advanced to the women’s and girls under-19 semi-finals. Joining her in the women’s semi-finals were second seed Aparajitha Balamurukan, Lakshya Ragavendran and Enora Villiard of France.

Results: CCI-Western India Open: Men’s Open (Quarter-finals): 1-David Letourneau (Canada) bt 5/8-Sandeep Jangra (Services) 11-8, 11-9, 11-5; 5/8-Kush Kumar (TN) bt 3/4-Gaurav Nandrajog (Delhi) 11-7, 11-6, 12-10; 3/4-Ravi Dixit (TN) bt 5/8-Vikas Jangra (Services) 11-6, 11-9, 6-11, 11-4; 2-Mahesh Mangaonkar (Mah) bt 5/8-Abhishek Pradhan (TN) 11-5, 11-8, 11-5.

Women (QF): 1-Anaka Alankamony (TN) bt Likhitta Dugar (TN) 11-2, 11-3, 11-1; 3/4-Enora Villiard (France) bt Shaila Pandole (CCI) 11-2, 11-2, 11-0; 3/4-Lakshya Ragavendran (TN) bt Mayuri Namasivayam (TN) 11-3, 11-6, 11-3; 2-Aparajitha Balamurukan (TN) bt Janet Vidhi (Delhi) 11-4, 11-3, 11-2.

Professionals (QF): 1-Aiyappan Parthiban (TN) bt 5/8-Manish Chavan (Bombay Gym) 11-6, 11-4, 11-7; 3/4-Sanjay Pawar (Otters Club) bt 5/8-Dalip Tripathi 12-10, 11-6, 7-11, 11-8; B. 3/4-Balamurugan (TN) bt Deepesh Borhade (Otters Club) 11-8, 11-3, 11-5; 2-Paramit Singh bt 5/8-Khushwant Singh 11-7, 11-3, 8-11, 11-4.

Sub jr. & Jr. Nat: Girls U-19 (QF): 1-Anaka Alankamony (TN) bt 5/8-Saai Meera (TN) 11-2, 11-7, 11-3; 3/4-Sachika Ingale (Delhi) bt 5/8-Vishrutyi Sahni (Mah) 5-11, 11-3, 11-8, 11-5; 3/4-Urwashi Joshi (Mah) bt 5/8-Janet Vidhi (Delhi) 11-6, 11-8, 11-5; 2-Aparajitha Balamurukan (TN) bt 5/8-Aishwarya Kulkarni (Mah) 11-2, 11-5, 11-1.

Girls U-17 (QF): 1-Lakshya Raghavendran (TN) bt 5/8-Pankhuri Malhotra (Delhi) 11-8, 11-4, 11-2; 5/8-Anandita Gupta (MP) bt 3/4-Mayuri N. (TN) 11-9, 11-7, 11-4; 3/4-Tanvi Khanna (Delhi) bt 5/8-Lakshmi Sruthi (TN) 11-5, 11-5, 11-4; 2-Harshit Kaur (Delhi) bt 5/8-Likhitta Dugar (TN) 11-2, 11-0, 11-6.

Girls U-15 (QF): 1-Adya Advani (Delhi) bt Sunayna Kuruvilla (TN) 11-4, 11-4, 11-5; 3/4-Ashita Pranaya Bhengra (TN) bt 5/8-Nehaarika Balamurukan (TN) 11-9, 13-15, 11-7, 11-4; 5/8-Akanksha Salunke (Goa) bt 3/4-Aishwarya Bhattacharya (Mah) 13-11, 12-10, 11-8; 2-Jui Kalgutkar (Mah) bt 5/8-Shamika Reddy (TN) 11-2, 11-1, 11-8.

Girls U-13 (QF): 1-Nikita Joshi (Mah) bt 5/8-Navmi Sharma (Mah) 11-0, 11-1, 11-2; 3/4-Shrishti Nagar (Mah) bt 5/8-Jeffrey Bianca (TN) 11-4, 11-2, 11-7; 3/4-Diya Joukani (Mah) bt 5/8-Sanaya Modi (MP) 11-8, 11-6, 5-11, 11-8; 2-Aakansha Rao (Mah) bt 5/8-Abhilasha Bhasin (Mah) 13-11, 11-9, 11-7.

Girls U-11 (QF): 1-Megha Bhatia (Delhi) bt 5/8-J.S. Kritica (TN) 11-8, 11-1, 11-5; 3/4-Ananya Dabke (Mah) bt Priya Rani Verma (Q) (Delhi) 10-12, 11-9, 11-9, 6-11, 11-2; 5/8-Aaryaa Ogale (Mah) bt 3/4-Avani Nagar (Mah) 11-4, 9-11, 11-4, 11-7; 2-S. Samita (TN) bt Nikita Singh (Mah) 11-3, 11-2, 11-4.

Boys U-19 (QF): 1-Mahesh Mangaonkar (Mah) bt Hiteshwar Riar (Chd) 11-5, 11-6, 11-4; 3/4-Ranvijay Singh (TN) bt 5/8-Divij Singh Kadan (Delhi) 11-7, 11-9, 7-11, 4-11, 11-9; 3/4-Deepak Mishra (TN) bt Arjun Kochhar (Mah) 11-9, 11-3, 11-7; 5/8-Shashi Pandey (Mah) bt Abhishek Agarwal (Mah) 11-7, 11-7, 11-7;

Boys U-17 (QF): 1-Kush Kumar (TN) bt Junaid Muzzafar Thoker (Delhi) 11-7, 11-6, 11-7, 3/4-Sandeep Ramachandran (TN) bt 5/8-Yohan Pandole (Mah) 17-15 11-6, 5-11, 11-4; 3/4-Madhav Dhingra (Mah) bt Siddharth Singh (Raj) 11-3, 11-6, 11-9; 2-Vijay Kumar (TN) bt 5/8-Guhan Senthilkumar (TN) 11-9, 6-11, 11-3, 11-5;

Boys U-15 (QF): 1-Ranjit Singh (UP) bt Siddhant Iyer (Mah) 12-10, 11-7, 11-6; 3/4-Adhitya Raghavan (TN) bt 5/8-Aryaman Adik (Mah) 11-3, 2-11, 11-8, 11-5; Q-Krish Kapur (WB) bt 5/8-Vikas Mehra (TN) 7-11, 11-9, 11-6, 11-9; 2-Velavan Senthilkumar (TN) bt 5/8-Yohann Surti (Mah) 11-6, 11-6, 11-3;

Boys U-13 (QF): 1-Chaitanya Shah (Mah) bt 5/8-Shankaran Parthiban (TN) 11-5, 11-6, 11-5; 3/4-Aryan Parikh (Mah) bt 5/8-Utkarsh Baheti (Raj) 11-4, 8-11, 11-8, 11-7; 3/4-Tushar Shahani (Mah) bt Saksham Choudhary (Delhi) 11-8, 14-12, 9-11, 4-11, 11-8; 2-Veer Chotrani (Mah) bt 5/8-Rutvik Rau (Mah) 11-9, 11-7, 11-5.

Boys U-11 (QF): 1-Yash Fadte (Goa) bt R. Kishore Aravind (TN) 11-3, 11-6, 11-4; 3/4-Neel Joshi (Mah) bt 5/8-Druv Vazirani (Mah) 11-9, 11-7, 14-12; 3/4-S. Navaneeth Prabhu (TN) bt 5/8-Tanay Punjabi (Mah) 11-6, 12-10, 11-6; 2-Advait Adik (Mah) bt Deepak Mandal (Mah) 10-12, 11-9, 11-2, 11-7.

Saturday: 9 a.m. onwards Semi-finals (Jr. & Sub Jr. Nat. Championship & 69th CCI-Western India Open, at the CCI)