Top seed Neel Joshi of Maharashtra did not have to exert himself too much in coasting to a fluent 11-1, 11-1, 11-1 victory against state mate Anush Kar in a boy’s under-13 third round match of the Rs 6 lakh prize-money All-India NSCI Junior Open Squash 2015, an SRFI 4-Star Ranking event, and played at the NSCI’s glass-back courts, Worli, on Sunday.
Kanhav Nanavati
In another third round match, second seed Jeh Pandole also from Maharashtra recorded an 11-8, 11-9, 11-8 win against compatriot Mohit Bhatt to join Neel in the next round.
However, Tamil Nadu’s Kanhav Nanavati, the joint third seed, had quite a battle on hand before getting past Aryan Khandelwal of Madhya Pradesh in a five-game thriller. Kanhav trailing 1-2 did well to win the next two to clinch a deserving 10-12, 11-3, 9-11, 11-8, 11-9 victory.
In another match that went the distance, Aaryaman Jaising of Maharashtra staved off a spirited challenge from compatriot Om Semwal before snatching a close 3-2 win. Aaryaman prevailed at 7-11, 11-9, 9-11, 11-8, 12-10 to set up pre-quarter-final clash with Neel.
In boys’ under-11 second round ties, Akshat Agarwal of West Bengal overcame sidelined Kabir Chawla of Maharashtra 11-1, 11-5, 11-4, while Aditya Chandani of Maharashtra sidelined Krish Golcha of West Bengal 11-8, 11-6, 11-2.
Boys’ under-11 – (1st round): Aditya Chandani (MH) bt Krish Golcha (WB) 11-8, 11-6, 11-2; Ekambir Singh (MH) bt Pratham Dave (MH) 9-11, 11-5, 11-5, 11-8; Anshuman Jaising(MH) bt Sifat Luther (MH) 11-8, 11-3, 11-3; Raunak Phophaliya (RJ) bt Krishna Kumar Mishra (MP) 11-3, 11-0, 11-5; Shouvik Naique (GA) bt Hemanya Bathija (MH) 11-0, 11-3, 11-1; Aimaan Zakaria (MH) bt Meet Parikh (MH) 11-4, 11-1, 11-4; Ayaan Vaziralli (MH) bt Sudesh S (TN) 11-4, 11-8, 11-4; Kian Lawyer (MH) bt Kavanpal Kohli (MH) 11-1, 11-3, 11-1; Shreyas Rao Katkoor (MH) bt Hunarpal Kohli (MH) 11-3, 11-0, 11-2; Siddharth Singh (RJ) bt Varun Shah (MH) 11-3, 11-3, 11-5; Vivaan Bhatia (MH) bt Dhairya Shah (MH) 11-2, 11-7, 11-6; Devay Mehta (MH) bt Keshav Hajarnavis (MH) 11-3, 11-0, 11-0; Arihant Ks (TN) bt Vansh Agarwal (MH) 11-1, 11-2, 11-1; Bhagwan Das (MH) bt Revat Vishal Pamnani (MH) 11-2, 11-3, 11-1; Akshat Agarwal (WB) bt Kabir Chawla (MH) 11-1, 11-5, 11-4; Siddhant Rewari (MH) bt Adhish Kancharla (MH) 11-1, 11-2, 11-2; Manav Kriplani (MH) bt Manit Rao (MH) 11-0, 11-5, 11-0; Gautam Chand (MH) bt Hrishikesh Pandya (GJ) 11-6, 11-1, 11-0.
Boys’ under-13 – (3rd round ): 1-Neel Joshi (MH) bt Anush Kar (MH) 11-1, 11-1, 11-1; Aaryaman Jaising (MH) bt Om Semwal (MH) 7-11, 11-9, 9-11, 11-8, 12-10; Lakshit Bohra (RJ) bt Sunny Yadav (MH) 9-11, 11-7, 11-7, 11-4; Aakash Gupta (KA) bt Kabir Mehra (MH) 11-3, 11-6, 11-3; Tanay Punjabi (MH) bt Amaan Habibulla (MH) 11-0, 11-4, 11-0; Mahanshu Gupta (RJ) bt Mir Mehta (MH) 11-6, 11-4, 11-3; Shreyas Mehta (MH) bt Rana Keshav Thakkar (MH) 11-6, 15-13, 11-2; Kanhav Nanavati (TN ) bt Aryan Khandelwal (MP) 10-12 11-3 9-11 11-8 11-9; Arman Darukhanawalla (MH) bt Siddhant Sinha (HR) 11-9, 11-0, 11-2; Parthiv N Yagnesh (TN) bt Mihit Mahale (MH) 11-2, 5-11, 11-5, 12-10; Ishaan Singh (RJ) bt Shreyansh Agrawal (MH) 11-5, 11-4, 11-4; Athrva Yadav (DL) bt Arnav Mandhana (MH) 7-11, 11-3, 11-9, 11-7; Yash Salunkhe (GA) bt Druv Vazirani (MH) 7-11, 11-5, 13-11, 11-7; Jay Vaknalli (MH) bt Uday Pandey (MH) 11-7, 11-5, 11-4; 2-Jeh Pandole (MH) bt Mohit Bhatt (MH) 11-8, 11-9, 11-8.