NSCI-ISP Junior and Doubles Squash Championship
Yohan Poncha dropped the opening game but fought back strongly to win the next three to overcome Krish Shah 5-11, 11-7, 11-9,11-5 in a boys’ under-15 (best-of-five game) quarter-final encounter of the Rs one lakh prize-money NSCI-ISP Junior and Doubles Squash Championship, organized by the Indian Squash Professional (ISP) and played at the NSCI Club courts.
Second seed Deepak B. Mandal and the joint 3-4 seeds Avinash Yadav and Yash Dhairyawan, all comfortably won their respective quarter-final matches to progress to the semi-finals. Deepak sidelined Rohan Padhye 11-6,11-7,11-6, while Avinash tamed Arnav Mandhana 11-4,11-3,11-7 and Yash prevailed over Araash Mehta 11-2, 11-9, 11-5.
In a boys’ under-11 quarter-final match, Vedant Chheda after trailing 1-2, showed solid fighting qualities. He recovered well to win the next two on the trot to dash the hopes of Shaurya Shah, winning at 9-11, 11-6, 5-11, 11-3, 11-6 to advance to the semi-finals.
Another interesting contest was witnessed in a girls’ under-11 quarter-final tie between Tanya Bafna and Saara Joukani as both players were aggressive throughout the match. However, Tanya showed better nerves and held her composure to win a crucial 5th game to clinch a hard-earned 11-7, 9-11,11-6,10-12, 11-6 victory.
Results –
Boys’ under-11 (quarter-finals): Rutva Samant bt Sharad Parulekar 11-0,11-2,11-3; Sharan Punjabi bt Adhish Kancharia 11-2,11-2,11-5; Dhairya Shah bt Shreyas Katkoor 11-9,11-7,11-6; Vivaan Bhatia bt Siddhant Rewari 2-11,12-10,11-2,11-7; Vedant Chedda bt Shaurya Shah 9-11, 11-6, 5-11, 11-3 11-6.
Girls’ under-11 (quarter-finals): Skandha Dogra bt Aaryaa Belsare 11-1,11-5,11-2; Tanya Bafna bt Saara Joukani 11-7, 9-11,11-6,10-12, 11-6; Diya Yadav bt Pari Naheta 11-1, 11-01,11-2; Mannat Shah bt Ipsa Mishra 11-1, 11-2,11-9.
Boys’ under-13 (quarter-finals): Aakash Gupta bt Sunny Yadav 11-5,11-3,11-4; Aaryaman Jaising bt Aryan Panicker 11-5,11-5,11-7; Paarth Ambani bt Harshraj Yadav 11-6,11-6,11-4; Shreyas Mehta bt Om Jagdish Sarmwal 11-8,11-7,11-3.
Boys’ under-15 (quarter-finals): 3-4-Avinash Yadav bt Arnav Mandhana 11-4,11-3,11-7; Yohann Poncha bt Krish Shah 5-11 11-7,11-9,11-5; 2-Deepak B Mandal bt Rohan Padhye 11-6,11-7,11-6; 3-4-Yash Dhairyawan bt Araash Mehta 11-2 11-9 11-5.
Boys’ under-21 (quarter-finals): 3-4-Tushar Shahani bt Pradeep Chaudhary 11-6,11-8,11-7; 3-4-Puneet Pareek bt Nilesh Pal 11-5, 11-6, 11-7; 1-Aishwary Singh bt Anshul Goyal 11-5, 11-5, 11-6; Ajit Sharma bt Shivam Sharma 11-2, 12-10, 11-8.
Doubles Open (quarter-finals): Samir Mistry/Sanjay Pawar bt Anshul Goyal/Santosh More 11-8,11-4; Reyaansh Jadhav/ Rohit Kadam bt Krish Shah/ Rohan Padhye 11-6, 11-6; Aishwary Singh/ Shashi Pareek bt Deepesh Borhade/ Vijay Waghela 11-8, 11-6; Abhishek Agarwal/ Shashi Pandey bt Arun Sharma/Puneet Pareek 11-8, 9-11, 11-9.