No surprise exits as the favorites qualify for the finals of the SBT National Squash Championship

Harshit Kaur

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM:

Surprises were few as the results panned out on expected lines with the top two seeds in both men’s and women’s sections reaching the title round on Saturday in the SBT-63rd national squash championship being held here. Saurav Ghosal gunning to regain the title is ready to face his last year’s conqueror Harinder Pal Sandhu.

Both these players had fairly smooth sailing in the semi-finals though Ghosal conceded a game to Kush Kumar before prevailing over the hugely talented youngster. Harinder, on the other hand, overcame the challenge of Ravi Dixit without much fuss.

Similar was the scene in the women’s section with Joshna Chinappa, looking for her 14th title made short work of school girl challenger Sunayna Kuruvilla while national junior champion Harshit Kaur Jawanda had little problem in ousting the lone Goan entry, Akanksha Salunkhe.

In the other competitions, Abhishek Agarwal of Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu’s Parthiban Ayyapan will contest for the professional’s title while among others the highlight was the emergence of national coach Cyrus Poncha, participating in the Over 35 years category, reaching the final. He will challenge Saurabh Nayar of Chandigarh for the title.

Results

Men:

Saurav Ghosal (TN) bt Kush Kumar (TN) 11-8 11-7 6-11 12-10;

Harinder Pal Sandhu (TN) bt Ravi Dixit (TN) 11-6 11-4 13-11.

Women:

Joshana Chinappa (TN) bt Sunayna Kuruvilla (TN) 11-3 11-5 11-6;

Harshit Kaur Jawanda (Del)bt Akanksha Salunkhe (Goa) 11-7 12-10 11-9

Professionals:

Abhishek Agarwal (Mah) bt Paramit Singh (Del) 11-7 11-5 11-3;

Parthiban Ayyapan (TN) bt Sanjay Pawar (Mah)11-5 11-6 11-3 .

Men (over 35):

Saurabh Nayar (Chand) bt Amitpal Kohli (Mah)11-7 11-7 11-7;

Cyrus Poncha (TN) bt Jay Asundi (Karna) 11-4 12-10 11-9;

Men (Over 40):

Rishad Pandole (Mah) bt Arvind Shetty (Teleng)11-2 11-4 11-4;

Vikas Nayar (Chand) bt Ashutosh Pednekar (Mah) 7-11 12-10 11-6 9-11 11-6

Men (Over 45):

Rohit Thawani (Mah bt Ashish Mehta (Mah) 10-12 11-4 11-8 11-7;

Sanjay Rajpal (Karna) bt Rajeev Bhatia (Karna) 11-5 11-8 11-6;

Men (over 50):

Jaideep Grewal (Chand) bt Chetan Ladiwala (Mah) 11-9 11-6 11-9;

Sriram Rao (Mah)bt Sanyog Jain (Karna)11-6 7-11 11-4 11-9.