Indian juniors shine in Asian squash championship

Chennai, Aug 18:

Indian juniors produced impressive performances in the Asian junior individual squash championship in Jordan with as many as 10 players entering the semifinals in various categories today.

In the boys’ section, Tushar Shahani (U-17), Neel Joshi (U-15), Yuvraj Wadhwani and Parth Ambani (both U-13) have reached the last four.

Among the girls, Sunayna Kuruvilla and Ashita Pranaya Bhengra (both U-19) besides Navmi Sharma (U-17), Yoshna Singh, Ananya Dabke (both U-15) and Yuvna Gupta (U-13) made it to the semifinals, said a SRFI press release here.

However, the big disappointment for India came with the exit of second seed Abhay Singh in the boys under-19 section in the quarterfinal, losing to Pakistan’s Mansoor Zaman, the 5/8 seed in five games.

The Indian had led by two games before slipping. The Pakistan player won 8-11, 9-11, 11-2, 11-6, 11-9.

Results:

Quarterfinals: boys: U-13: Parth Ambani (5/8) bt Usman Nadeem (3/4) (Pak) 5-11, 2-11, 13-11,11-9, 11-6; Yuvraj Wadhwani (2) bt Lo Chun Yu Kelvin (5/8) (HK) 11-5, 11-3, 6-11, 11-6; U-15: Neel Joshi (2) bt Navneeth Prabhu (5/8) 11-7, 11- 7, 11-3; U-17: Tushar Shahani (2) bt Wong King Yeung (5/8) (HK) 11-5, 11-6, 11-9.

Girls: U-19: Sunayna Kuruvilla (3/4) bt Nur Alia Izzati Binti MuAnis (5/8) (Mal) 11-8, 11-5, 9-11, 13-11; Ashita Bhengra (5/8) bt Ho Wa King (2) (HK) 11-6, 11-3, 11-5; U-17: Navmi Sharma (5/8) bt Sanya Vats (3/4) 9-11, 11-8, 11-6, 8-11, 11-9; U-15: Ananya Dabke (3/4) bt Wu Renee Wing (5/8) (HK) 12 -10, 11-6, 11-4; Yoshna Singh bt Wong Po Yui Kirstie (3/4) (HK) 11-5, 11-6, 11-6; U-13: Yuvna Gupta (3/4) bt V S C Sinaly (SL) 11-4, 11-4, 11-3. PTI