India's youngest national champion Joshna Chinappa of Tamil Nadu set herself up for a coveted double when she entered the Under-19 women's final on the penultimate day of the Indian Oil Open squash tournament at the Otters Club in Mumbai on Friday.
Joshna, who is the top seed in both categories, blanked third seed Liana Deboo of Mumbai 9-0, 9-0, 9-0 and then got a walk-over in the women's final as her opponent Shweta Singh of Mumbai failed to turn up due to illness.
In the men's section, the top four seeds -- Saurav Ghosal of Tamil Nadu, Manish Chotrani of Mumbai, Gaurav Nandrajog of Delhi and Salil Vora of Mumbai -- kept their appointed places in the semi-finals scoring impressive victories.
Chotrani rallied magnificently after dropping the first two games 5-9, 7-9 to pip his unseeded city mate Karan Bhatty 5-9, 7-9, 9-2, 9-4, 9-5 in the first quarter-final while Nandrajog eliminated another local lad, Supreet Singh 9-4, 9-4, 9-4.
Ghoshal defeated Amjad Khan of Delhi 9-2, 9-0, 9-0 while Vora sidelined Dhiraj Singh of Jodhpur 9-7, 10-8, 9-2 on way to the last four stage.
Both Chotrani and Nandrajog made it to the Indian team for the Asian senior championship at Malyasia in July along with Ghoshal and Vora
Ghoshal, who is also the top seed in the boys' under-19 section, sailed into the final with a thumping 9-1, 9-1, 9-1 victory over fourth seed A Partiban of Tamil Nadu while second seed Vikas Jangra of Nasik beat his brother Sandeep 9-1, 9-5, 9-1 in the other semi-finals.
Results (men) quarter-finals: S Ghoshal bt A Khan 9-2, 9-0, 9-0; S Vora bt D Singh 9-7, 10-8, 9-2; G Nandrajog bt S Singh 9-4, 9-4, 9-4; M Chotrani bt K Bhatty 5-7, 7-9, 9-2, 9-4, 9-5.
Boys' under-19 (all semi-finals): S Ghoshal bt A Partibhan 9-1, 9-1, 9-1; V Jangra bt S Jangra 9-1, 9-5, 9-1.
Boys' under-17: S Jangra bt Cyrus Vakil 9-2, 9-2, 10-8; Manek Mathur bt Naresh Kumar 9-4, 9-5, 7-9, 9-4.
Boys' under-15: Laxman Joshi bt Nitin Chauhan 9-7, 9-6, 7-9, 9-4; Vikram Malhotra bt Naveen Jangra 9-6, 9-3, 9-1.
Boys' under-13: Ravi Dixit bt Karam Kumar 9-0, 9-0, 9-5; Aditya Jagtap bt Rahul D'Cunha 9-7, 9-2, 9-5.
Boys' under-11: Mahesh Mangaonkar bt Karan Arora 9-0, 9-4, 9-0; Abhishek Pradhan bt Tarun Nambiar 9-4, 10-8, 9-6.
Women: J Chinappa bt L Deboo 9-0, 9-0, 9-0; Alisha Mashruwala bt Dr Deepali Anwekar 9-1 (conceded).
Girls' under-19: J Chinappa w/o S Singh; Sonali Philip bt Liana Deboo 9-3, 10-8, 9-2.
Girls' under-17: Alisha Mashruwala w/o Nikita Emanuel, Surbi Mishra bt S Philip 7-9, 9-5, 9-3, 9-1.
Girls' under-15: V Aniwesha Reddy bt Harita Om Prakash 9-2, 9-0, 9-0; S Mishra bt Nikita Emanuel 9-4, 9-1, 9-4.
Girls' under-13: V A Reddy bt Ankita Sharma 9-0, 9-1, 9-0; H O Prakash bt Saumya Karki 9-4, 9-0, 9-2.
Girls under-11: Sachika Balwani bt B Aparajita 8-10, 9-3, 2-9, 9-5, 9-0; A Anaika bt A Sharma 7-9, 9-6, 9-6, 9-5.
© 2024 Rediff.com -