India Number 1 Tushar Shahani and Rahul Baitha sailed through to the round 2 of the U-19 category being played at the Otters Club Open Squash Tournament 2018 Co-Sponsored by Rustomjee & Deutsche Bank to be played at the Otters Club squash courts on Sunday.
Tushar, who is recovering from his semi-final loss in the tournament last week started the tournament on a high as he ran past his opponent Sajid Khan whom he beat by 11-4, 11-3, 11-4. Meanwhile, it was not a smooth sailing for 2nd seed Baitha who had to work hard for his victory. Baitha was faced with resistance from Adarsh Banodha right from the first game which Rahul scraped through winning by an 11-08 margin. The second game proved to be tougher for Rahul as Adarsh was matching move to move causing trouble for Baitha who lost his attention which led the game into a 10-10 tiebreaker. Rahul put his experience to good use and held off his talented opponent winning the game 13-11. In the final game, Rahul was met with a lot of resistance from Adarsh but he made him move around the court eventually tiering Adarsh and winning the game 11-8 and the match 11-8, 13-11, 11-8.
In another match, Third seed Vivaan Jaikishan was stretched thin by Harsh Kumar in an epic 5 game thriller. Vivaan started the match on a confident note and took the first two games 11-7, 11-8 with relative ease. Just when he was expected to seal the deal harsh came back with a solid performance beating Vivaan 14-12 in a tiebreaker. This confidence helped harsh who built on the momentum and took another closely contested tiebreaker by 13-11. In the final game Vivaan got his act together and pushed hard attacking Harsh and making him work hard for each point, Harsh was eventually tired and Vivaan took advantage of the fact clinching the game 11-9 and the match 11-7, 11-8, 12-14, 11-13, 11-9.
Under 19 Boys Results:
Tushar Shahani [1] bt Sajid Khan 11-4, 11-3, 11-4; Vedansh Kushwaha bt Shlok Makhija 8-11, 11-6, 11-4, 11-5; Suraj Chand bt Yashwir Singh Hooda 11-8, 11-8, 14-12; Shloke Sahay bt Niall Shah 11-2, 11-6, 11-4; Anuj Unadkat bt Zahaan Heeramaneck 11-0, 11-6, 11-3; Sankalp Anand bt Shivam Bansal 11-7, 11-7, 11-7; Arjun Singh [9/16] bt Ritik Shah 11-1, 11-3, 11-1; Vivaan Jaikishan [3] bt Harsh Kumar 11-7, 11-8, 12-14, 11-13, 11-9; Veer Chotrani bt Kunal Singh 11-5, 11-3, 11-4; Gautam Nagpal bt Jash Chheda 11-3, 11-5, 11-5; Jaideep Singh Sethi bt Raunak Advani 11-9, 4-11, 11-7, 13-11; Avinash Yadav bt Ajay Deshmukh 11-3, 11-4, 11-2; Ansh Shetty bt Vedant Ambani 13-11, 11-4, 11-4; Araash Mehta bt Ansh Punjabi 11-5, 11-4, 11-7; Rahul Baitha [2] bt Adarsh Banodha 11-8, 13-11, 11-8;