Indian Girls Move into Round 3 at the World Junior Squash champs

Sachika Ingale, Harshit Kaur Jawanda and Lakshya Ragavendran continued to fly the flag for India as the boys went down on day 2 of World Junior Championships in Wroclaw, Poland.

Sachika Ingale made short work of Grace Mcervale from Australia to lead the Indian contingent into third round. With the first game evenly poised at 6-6, Sachika used her delightful drops and boasts to clinch the game and set the tone for the match. Sachika was always in control and asserted her dominance in emphatic style with a comfortable win over Grace Mcervale.

Harshit Kaur Jawanda used her speed and aggressive play to maintain the upper hand over Karolina Holinkova of Czech Republic and duly booked her place in Round 3. Lakshya Ragavendran played well to control the youthful exuberance of the dangerous floater Sivasangari Subramaniam from Malaysia. Lakshya hardly broke a sweat in winning the first two but lost her concentration in the third to allow a whiff of a comeback for the Malaysian. Sivasangari took full advantage of the momentary lapse to cash in on the third game before Lakshya restored regular order in no time. Tanvi Khanna was the only Indian girl to lose on the day, after being outplayed by [9/12] seed Vanessa Raj of Malaysia.

Lakshya plays Lilly Taylor in the third round, Harshit Kaur Jawanda has the unenviable task of playing reigning Asian Junior Champion Ho Ka Po from Hong Kong and Sachika Ingale plays Canadian no.1 Hollie Naughton for a place in the last 16.

Deepak Mishra, Kush Kumar and Rishi Tandon all fell in Round 3 as Indian campaign drew to an early close in the Boys’ competition in Wroclaw. Deepak Mishra, who received a bye into the third round, was completely outclassed by an impressive Diego Elias [5/8] of Chile in Round 3 of the competition.

British junior U-17 winner Diego Elias played outstanding length and consistency giving Deepak a very low margin for error. Deepak was doing everything possible but could not find a way past the lanky lad from Peru and surrendered the first two games for just 4 points. In the third game, Diego let his guard down a bit but Deepak played exceedingly well, forcing Diego to make errors and squeezed the match into a fourth game. Deepak could not maintain the consistency and went down in four games.

India’s final hopes in boys’ section rested on the shoulders of Kush Kumar, who was playing Joel Malin of Wales in the third rund. Joel put up an outstanding display of very very tight control and pounced on Kush’s unforced errors to open up a 6-2 lead in the first game. Kush fought back from 5-10 to 9-10 but then a forehand drive came to the centre of the court and a stroke was awarded to Joel to give him the first game.

While Kush was trying to put the disappointment of the losing the first game, Joel raced away to a 9-1 lead in the second game. Kush, once again nearly pulled the rabbit out of the hat, as he closed in to 9-10 and had a game point at 11-10. Kush failed to convert his chance and Joel polished off the game to 13/11. Kush came out pumped up and fighting hard in the third and raced off to a 7-1 lead winning on the back of his spectacular drops and cross-court flicks. Pocketing the third to keep that glimmer of hope alive, Kush once again found himself playing catch up in the fourth. Kush had no response to Joel’s excellent drives and a stroke and a boast into the tin sealed the game and match for the Welsh lad.

Results:

Boys Round 3:

Diego Elias (PER) beat Deepak Mishra 11/3 11/1 10/12 11/4Lyell Fuller (ENG) beat Rishi Tandon 11/4 11/5 12/14 11/7Joel Makin (WAL) beat Kush Kumar 11/9 13/11 6/11 11/7

Boys Round 2:

Kush Kumar beat Rodrigo Obregan (ARG) 11/5 11/8 11/7

Girls Round 2:

Sachika Ingale beat Grace Mcervale (AUS) 11/8 11/6 11/5Harshit Kaur Jawanda beat Karolina Holinkava(CZE) 11/8 11/3 11/5Lakshya Ragavendran beat Sivasangari Subramaniam (MAS) 11/8 11/8 5/11 11/5Tanvi Khanna lost to Vanessa Raj (MAS) 5/11 2/11 2/11