Rahul Baitha, who lost his U-19 tie yesterday to a lower-ranked Diwakar Singh redeemed himself as he rallied to beat 2nd seed Ranjit Singh 11-6, 11-1, 11-5 in the men’s category in the ongoing Otters Club Open Squash Tournament 2019 co-sponsored by Mahindra Rise and played at the Otters Club Squash courts on Friday.
Rahul Baitha of Maharashtra who upset 2nd seed Ranjit Singh of Services to advance to the semi-finals of the Otters Club Open Squash Tournament 2019.
Ranjit Singh of Services, who had dropped only one game on his way to the quarter-finals was in positive spirits and ready to take on a lower ranked Rahul of Maharashtra who is seeded 5th in the tournament. Rahul, who was determined to bounce back from yesterday’s setback came into the match all guns blazing and took the 1st game 11-6 without much resistance. Ranjit looked out of sorts in the match as he was unable to gain any momentum against Rahul’s attack and succumbed to a measly 1-11 defeat in the 2nd game. Baitha proved to be unstoppable as he to the 3rd game by 11-5 to complete his 11-6, 11-1, 11-5 rout and advance to the semis. In another match, Tushar Shahani of Maharashtra fought a tough battle against the top Abhishek Pradhan of Maharashtra before going down in the 4th game. Abhishek ran through Tushar taking the 1st game 11-6. Tushar bounced back and upped his game to win the 2nd game by a close 11-8 margin to level scores. Abhishek who is more experienced of the two, applied his mind to fend off any attack from Tushar and take the 3rd and 4th game 11-2, 14-12 and advance to the semis.
In a Women’s Open Match, Sanika Choudhari of Maharashtra was had an easy outing as she completely dominated her statemate Aakanksha Rao to secure an 11-4, 11-3, 11-4 victory in under 30 minutes and advance to the semi-finals. In another tie, 2nd seed Sachika Balvani of Maharashtra managed to edge past 5th seed Radhika Rathore of Madhya Pradesh to enter the semis. After losing the first game by an embarrassing 1-11 margin, Radhika regrouped and bounced back to compete neck to neck with Sachika and force a tiebreaker at 10-10 but Sachika managed to stay clam under pressure and clinch 2 back to back points to take the 2nd game. Sachika did not give any room for Radhika to score taking the final game by 11-6 and the match by 11-1, 12-10, 11-6.
Women’s Open quarter-finals
Sanika Choudhari [3/4] bt Aakanksha Rao [5/8] 11-4,11-3, 11-4; Aparajitha Balamurukan [3/4] bt Nikita Agarwal [5/8] 11-4, 11-0, 11-2; Sachika Balvani [2] bt Radhika Rathore [5/8] 11-1, 12-10, 11-6; Urwashi Joshi [1] – Aishwarya Khubchandani- Walkover
Men’s Open quarter-finals
Abhishek Pradhan [1] bt Tushar Shahani [5/8] 11-6, 8-11, 11-2, 14-12; Neel Joshi [9/16] bt Ashray Ohri [17/32] 11-9, 11-5, 11-9; Vikas Mehra [5/8] bt Vaibhav Chauhan [9/16]11-9, 11-7, 11-9; Rahul Baitha [5/8] bt Ranjit Singh [2] 11-6, 11-1, 11-5