Asian junior individual squash: Pre-quarterfinal results of Indian players

Jui Kalgutkar dropped just five points in her win over Sri Lanka’s Mudiyansalage Rajapaksha

Early indications from the ongoing Asian junior individual squash championship being held in Tehran are that quite a few Indian players are on the fringe of entering the medals zone in the various age categories. A clear picture will emerge only after the quarter-final matches late on Tuesday.

However two players who have assured themselves of a medal are the top seeds Megha Bhatia and Navaneeth Prabhu in the U-13 girls and boys sections. Megha beat fellow Indian Avani Nagar 3-1, while Navaneeth defeated Albatayneh of Jordan in the quarterfinal.

Earlier in the pre-quarterfinal phase, a few matches involving Indian players came into focus. Veer Chotrani for instance came close to edging out second seed Muhammad Hafiz Zhafri of Malaysia in the U-15 section. Two years ago the two had played the U-13 final but an early meeting did not change the fortunes with the Malaysian winning again, but after a strong resistance from Chotrani.

Abhay Singh was all fire against top seed Mohammed Khalil Alsarraj of Jordan. The Indian had a match ball advantage in a match that went five games but the Jordanian squeezed out of trouble eventually.

Vikas Mehra on the other hand let go the advantage of a two game and a 6-1 lead in the fifth game against second seed Ong Sai Hung in another thriller.

The Results: Pre-quarterfinals:

Boys:

U-19:

Mudit Pant bt Majid Karim Panah (IRN) 11-7, 11-6, 11-8 ;

Velavan Senthilkumar bt Don A.R. Rajarathna (Sri) 11-1, 11-4, 11-4;

Harshvardhan Wadhwa lost to Sajad Zareian 3-11, 2-11, 7-11;

Sandeep Ramachandran bt R.P.Jayawardane (Sri) 11-4, 11-8, 11-6

U-17:

Mohammed Khalil Alsarraj (Jor) bt Abhay Singh 8-11,11-6,7-11, 11-1, 16-14;

Ibrahim Khaleel Abulaban (Jor) bt Robin singh Mann 12-10, 11-6, 11-8;

Adhitya Raghavan bt A.H. Feizpour (IRN) 11-9, 11-5, 8-11, 11-6;

Ong Sai Hung (Mal) bt Vikas Mehra 6-11, 9-11, 11-6, 11-4, 12-10

U-15:

Rahul Baitha bt A.R. Mohammad Alsarraj(Jor) 11-9, 11-6, 11-9;

Tushar Shahani w/o Pooyan Habibpoor (Irn);

Saksham Choudhary (Ind) bt K A D J Raveen (Sri) 9-11, 11-5, 11-0, 11-3;

Veer Chotrani lost to Muhammad Hafiz Zhafri (Mal) 12-10, 10-12, 7-11, 10-12;

U-13:

Navaneeth Prabhu bt Sepehr Eftekhari (Irn) 11-6, 11-5, 11-5;

Shreemann Raghavan lost to Daniel gharooni (Irn) 5-11, 6-11, 6-11;

Neel Joshi bt Asmone M.I. Faheth (Sri) 11-2, 11-2, 11-3;

Tanay Panjabi lost to MA. Amirul (Mal) 6-11, 8-11, 4-11

Girls:

U-19:

Jui Kalgutkar bt Mudiyansalage Rajapaksha (Sri) 11-2,11-1, 11-2;

Adya Advani bt Rezvan Naghibi 11-3, 11-7, 11-2;

Harshit Jawanda w/o Sajedeh Karimi (Irn)

U-17:

Asita Bhengra bt Sara Ahmadi (Irn) 11-1, 11-7, 11-5;

Nikita Joshi bt Ailee Nayeri (Irn) 11-5, 11-5, 10-12, 11-8;

Akanksha Salunkhe bt Najme Bhooshehri (irn) 11-3, 11-6, 11-2

U-15:

Navmi Sharma bt Kosar Behnam (Irn) 11-9, 11-9, 14-12;

Ooi Kah Yan (Mal) bt Jannia singh 11-3, 11-3, 11-3;

Samita Sivakumar bt Gamage Onelli (Sri) 11-2, 11-0, 11-2

U-13:

Megha Bhatia bt Tharushi Magaanaraachchi (Sri) 11-0, 11-2, 11-1;

Avani Nagar bt Narges Soltani (Irn) 11-3, 11-0, 11-1;

Aryaa Ogale bt Veera Shamiyel Sinalli (Sri) 11-3, 11-3, 11-3;

Ananya Dabke bt Narhol Ramezanzadeh (Irn) 11-4, 11-2,11-4.