CCI crown for Aditya Jagtap

Third seed Aditya Jagtap of Maharashtra beat second seed Gaurav Nandrajog of Delhi 11-6, 11-7, 15-13 to emerge as the men’s champion in the 74th CCI-Western India Open Squash Tournament at the Cricket Club of India. Jagtap, who won the first two sets in 18 minutes, ended the quality championship round with a nick, in a contest that lasted all of 30 minutes. In a match marked by long rallies, Jagtap swept the opening two sets after surging to substantial leads until the never-say-die Nandrajog raised hopes of a comeback with a 5-0 advantage in the crucial third.

Jagtap ignored the deficit to draw level at 9-9. A stroke gave him his first match ball but Nandrajog bravely came back into the match until Jagtap terminated the suspense after the fifth match ball in a match that had a gripping finish over extra points.

Jagtap, who is on a roll this season, having been a finalist at Khar Gymkhana and winning the Otters Open, Maharashtra State Open and Juhu Vile Parle Gymkhana titles on the trot, received Rs 1.25 lakh, while Nandrajog received Rs 62,000.

Unseeded Ananya Dabke of Maharashtra, who shocked second seed Amira Singh of Delhi in the quarter-finals and upset third seed Anannya Morey in the semi-finals, maintained her giant-killing streak with another stunning 7-11, 11-3, 11-8, 11-6 win over top seed Jannia Singh of Chandigarh to snatch the girls under-17 crown.

Unseeded Aparajitha Balamurukan of Tamil Nadu (women), Anahat Singh of Delhi (girls u-11), Pooja Arthi of Tamil Nadu (girls u-13) and Maharashtra duo Rutva Samant (boys under-13) and Arnaav Sareen (boys u-15) upset the top seeds to emerge champions in their respective categories.