Anay Sawant of USA and Tanish Vaidya of Maharashtra scored contrasting wins in their respective boys’ under-11 opening round qualifying matches in the Rs 6.5 lakh prize-money NSCI Indian Classic Junior Open Squash Championship 2016, an SRFI 4-Star sanctioned and an ASF Silver event, and which is being conducted and hosted by NSCI at their glass-back courts on Tuesday.
Mishaal Vaswani
The 8-year-old Anay from Burlingame, California made a strong start as he recovered from the loss of the first game to brush aside Dhruv Khanna from Maharashtra in four games, coasting to a 8-11, 11-3, 11-6, 11-8 victory to advance to the second round. He will next take on another Maharashtra player Adhish Kancharia, who had a bye in the first round, on Wednesday morning.
Meanwhile, Tanish displayed great determination and superb fighting qualities to overcome a stiff challenge from Tamil Nadu’s Magizhan S. in an absorbing five-game thriller. After both players shared the opening four games, the deciding game was also a close affair before Tanish managed to hold his nerves to win over extra points to complete a well-deserved 11-8, 8-11, 11-2, 7-11, 12-10 win and progress to a second round meeting with Karnataka’s Pranav Bhalla who easily defeated Ayaan Kuchhal of Rajashtan 11-7, 11-7, 11-4.
In one of the most exciting match of the day, Mishaal Vaswani of Maharashtra showed great courage and confidence as he got the better of state mate Shreyansh Agrawal in five gruelling games at 9-11, 11-7, 11-6, 12-14, 11-7.
Meanwhile in boys’ under-17 action, Maharashtra’s Rahul Dharra tamed Aryan Steve Rybin 11-4, 11-2, 11-2 to make it to the second qualifying round. However, Rahul Mehta of Maharashtra did not enjoy a good outing and went down to Vipul Sharma of Uttar Pradesh in four games losing at 8-11, 6-11, 11-9, 5-11.
Qualification results – Boys’ U-17 (1st round): Arjun Singh (MAH) bt Yajwin Manojjkumar Jain (MAH) 11-3, 11-3, 11-0; Rahul Dharra (MAH) bt Aryan Steve Rybin (TN) 11-4, 11-2, 11-2; Maanav Mandhian (MAH) bt Siddhanth Lath (MAH) 11-3, 11-7, 11-4; Vikas Chand (MAH) bt Arsh Nadkarni (MAH) 11-9, 11-6, 11-2; Utkarsh Rastogi (DEL) bt Jash Mahendra Kumar Shankla (TN) 11-4 , 11-5, 11-3; Armaan Aggarwal (DEL) bt Siddhanth Beri (MAH) 11-3, 11-2, 11-3; Vipul Sharma (UP) bt Rahul Mehta (MAH) 11-8, 11-6, 9-11, 11-5;
Boys’ U-15 (1st round): Kushagra Goenka (DL) bt Amaan Habibulla (MAH) 11-7, 11-2, 11-1; Mishaal Vaswani (MAH) bt Shreyansh Agrawal (MAH) 9-11, 11-7, 11-6, 12-14, 11-7; Rohan Bhatane(MAH) bt Avinash Sahani (MAH) 11-6 11-6 11-4; Jayasai Yarram (AP) bt Vishal Rajbhar (GA) 11-3, 11-0, 11-1.
Druhin Rathore (GA)11-2, 11-6, 11-3; Jaideep Singh Sethi (DEL) bt Shri Hari Srinivasan (TN) 11-8, 11-13, 12-10, 11-7
Boys’ U-11 (1st round): Aryaman Jain (RJ) bt Krishiv Gupta (MAH) 11-4, 3-11, 11-5, 11-3; Karan Yadav (UP) bt Ruhaan Mahindru (MAH) 11-4, 11-8, 11-4; Siddharth Singh (RJ) bt Daksheshnarain Suriyanarayanan (TN) 11-9, 11-8, 11-6; Arjun Somani (MAH) bt Keshav Hajarnavis (MAH) 11-2, 11-1, 11-6; Anay Sawant (USA) bt Dhruv Khanna (MAH) 8-11, 11-3, 11-6, 11-8; Raayan Hemrajani (MAH) bt Vahrun Taraporewala (MAH) 12-10, 11-8, 11-7; Ashvin Ganesh (TN) bt Yugant Gupta(MAH) 11-5, 11-6, 11-2;Kabir Taraporewala (MAH) bt Vansh Agarwal (MAH) 11-2,11-2, 11-5; Aditya Sanjay Lokhande (MAH) bt Tathart Jain(RJ) 11-2, 11-1, 11-2; Teerth Jilka (MAH) bt Reyaan Bafna (MAH)11-8, 11-1, 11-6; Tanish Vaidya (MAH) bt Magizhan S (TN) 11-8, 8-11, 11-2, 7-11, 12-10; Pranav Bhalla (KA) bt Ayaan Kuchhal (RJ)11-7, 11-7, 11-4; Aakash Kannan(TN) bt Kavya Anand (MAH) 11-3, 11-9, 11-8.
Boys’ U-13 (1st round): Rishit Gadre (MAH) bt Rinku Rinku (HR) 11-2, 11-3, 11-4; Ahaan Bhansali (MAH) bt Varun Shah (MAH) 11-0, 11-2, 11-0; Abhishek Paswan (MAH) bt Zahaan Bafna (MAH) 11-6, 11-5, 11-3; Abhishek Yadav (UP) bt Parv Shah (MAH) 11-0 11-3, 11-0; Ketan Pawnarkar (MAH) bt Angad Singh (MAH) 11-5, 11-6, 11-2; Charith Reddy (TL) bt Arin Khot (MAH) 11-6, 11-7,15-13; Akshat Agarwal (WB) bt Aditya Belwalkar (MAH)11-9, 11-2, 11-1.