Tuesday, May 21, 2024 | Last Update : 07:23 PM IST
Neel Joshi turns giant-killer
In more significant reversals, boys’ under-17 top seed Rahul Baitha of Maharashtra and Sankalp Anand of Delhi also made premature exits.
Men’s top seed Ravi Dixit and second seed Gaurav Nandrajog crashed out on a dramatic day of upsets, in the Otters Open Squash Championship, co-sponsored by Citrus, Fenesta and Modi Motors.
In more significant reversals, boys’ under-17 top seed Rahul Baitha of Maharashtra and Sankalp Anand of Delhi also made premature exits. While Utkarsh Baheti of Rajasthan shocked Anand 11-2, 11-3, 11-7, Baitha’s campaign ended in the quarter-finals when he went down to Cologne Cup and Dutch Open winner Neel Joshi who turned giant-killer with another upset win over third seed Gautam Nagpal of Delhi in the semi-finals.
Top seed Aryaman Adik of Otters Club and second seed Yash Bhargava of Delhi will contest the boys’ under-19 championship round.
While men’s third seed Aditya Jagtap stunned former Asian junior champion Dixit 11-7, 11-9, 11-6 in a swift effort, fourth seed Sandeep Jangra of Services upset Nandrajog of Delhi 9-11, 9-11, 11-6, 11-6, 11-8 in an entertaining 70-minute encounter.
Nandrajog, who began with supreme confidence, squandered a 2-0 advantage as Jangra initiated a spectacular recovery by using the sidewalls to good effect, and a rich repertoire of strokes that included delightful drops and nicks, with a backhand nick from the forecourt off the front wall being the shot of the day.
It was a neck-and-neck battle at 7-all in the decider until a determined Jangra broke away to reach match-ball at 10-8 and won with another drop.
Results: Men (Semi-finals): Aditya Jagtap bt Ravi Dixit 11-7, 11-9, 11-6; Sandeep Jangra bt Gaurav Nandrajog bt Abhinav Sinha 9-11, 9-11, 11-6, 11-6, 11-8. Boys U-17 (SF): Neel Joshi bt Gautam Nagpal 11-4, 9-11, 11-9, 11-8; Utkarsh Baheti bt Sankalp Anand 11-2, 11-3, 11-7 . Boys U-19 (SF): Aryaman Adik bt Arman Jindal 13-11, 11-2, 11-7; Yash Bhargava bt Robin Singh Mann 11-6, 6-11, 12-10, 13-11. Professional Coach (SF): Sanjay Pawar bt Ganesh Kadam 7-11, 11-8, 11-8, 11-5; Sandeep Yadav bt Sachin Jadhav 11-9, 11-8, 14-12. O-35 (SF): Rishad Pandole bt Karan Mirchandani 11-7, 11-5, 11-6; Manish Chotrani bt Amitpal Kohli 11-9, 8-11, 11-8, 7-11, 11-9. O-45 (SF): Anil Bhagat bt Amitoj Inder Singh 11-6, 11-4, 11-5; Jehangir Surti bt Vaman Apte 11-8, 11-7, 11-9.
