MUMBAI, July 12: Gaurav Nandrajog of Delhi and Sidharth Suchde of Maharashtra advanced in the men’s qualifiers with comfortable wins on the opening day of the 73rd Senior National Squash Championship at the Otters Club here today.
Nandrajog, runner-up in the 2006 nationals and top seed in the qualifiers, warmed up for sterner tests ahead when he eased past upcoming Mumbai junior Shreyas Mehta 11-2 11-2 11-2.
Suchde, seeded behind Nandrajog, had things very much in control while sailing past Aditya Agarwal 11-3 11-6 11-2.
Also through was 3/4 seed Adhitya Raghavan who outclassed Saleem Rashid Ganaie 11-3 11-2 11-4.
Hiteshwar Singh Riar of Chandigarh prevailed over Ashray Ohri of Telangana 11-7 4-11 11-9 11-4 while Mohammad Shafi Bhat overcame his J and K state mate Asif Manzoor Gania 11-8 8-11 14-16 13-11, 11-9.
Vikas Lath of Maharashtra and Rishabh Agarwal of West Bengal also snatched deciders, while Deva Ram Choudhary of Rajasthan and Raunak Advani of Maharashtra won in four tight games.
Men’s qualifying is set to continue tomorrow before the main draw games take place from July 14.
Reigning men’s champion and 10-time winner Saurav Ghosal, the world no. 10, and defending women’s champion and 14-time winner Joshana Chinappa, world No. 19, are the title-favourites who are expected to face stiff fight from former champions Harinderpal Singh Sandhu and Dipika Pallikal respectively. (PTI)
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