Unseeded Mithali Surana of Mumbai put up an amazing performance to outsmart the top seed Tanaya M Parakh of West Bengal and advance to the semi-finals of the Otters Club Vedanta Squash Open, Organized by 5 Sports, in association with Otters Club at their glass-back squash courts on Thursday. Meanwhile, Aishwarya continued her fine run by advancing to the U-19 and Women’s semi-finals with straight game victories over her opponents Rewa Bharma and Nikita Agarwal respectively.
Unseeded Mithali Surana of Mumbai put up an amazing performance to outsmart the top seed Tanaya M Parakh of West Bengal and advance to the semi-finals of the Otters Club Vedanta Squash Open,
Tanaya started the game as a crowd favourite but Mithali quickly showed her prowess and changed perceptions by winning the first game 11-3. The second game saw a fightback from Tanaya but she could not capitalize on a positive start and succumbed to an 8-11 defeat. The third game saw a fierce fight between the two with Tanaya giving her all to stay in the game. The game was neck to neck for a while but Tanaya was struggling in the crunch moments which helped Mittali take the game 11-9 and the match 11-3, 11-8, 11-9 to advance to the semis.
Meanwhile, Aishwarya Khubchandani continued her fine run by taking down both her U-19 and Women’s open opponents in straight sets to advance to the finals. In the U-19 tie, Aishwarya remained unchallenged as she ran through Rewa Bharma winning the game 11-1, 11-1, 11-5. Aishwarya playing barely an hour after her first match showed no signs of slowing down as she took down the unseeded Nikita Agarwal 11-1, 11-1, 11-1.
In the Boys U-19 tie, Top seed Veer Chotrani faced no trouble as he marched his way to the semi-finals defeating a talented Advait Adik 11-2, 11-3, 11-5. In another match, 2nd Seed Tushar was on a roll as he defended a strong challenge from Prithvi Singh. After an average first game, Prithvi showed promise matching Tushar in skill and speed but was not able to go the distance due to a minor injury he picked up during the game helping Tushar advance to the semi-finals with an 11-6, 11-9, 11-8 scoreline.
Results Girls U19 Q/F
Bhavna Goyal [2] bt Anjali Devi [5/8] 11-5 11-4 11-6; Amira Singh [3/4] bt Rathika Suthanthira Seelan 11-6 11-2 11-7; Aishwarya Khubchandani [5/8] bt Rewa Bharma [3/4] 11-1 11-1 11-5; Mithali Surana bt Tanaya M Parakh [1] 11-3 11-8 11-9
Boys U-19 Q/F
Veer Chotrani [1] bt Advait Adik [9/16] 11-2 11-3 11-5; Arnaav Sareen bt Neel Joshi 11-8, 11-13, 3-11, 11-7, 12-10; Saksham Choudhary [3/4] bt Vedansh Kushwaha [9/16] 11-4, 11-4, 11-9; Tushar Shahani [2] bt Prithvi Singh [9/16] 11-6, 11-9, 11-8
Women’s Q/F
Aishwarya Khubchandani bt Nikita Agarwal 11-1, 11-1, 11-1