Harinder Pal Singh Sandhu and Sandeep Jangra reached the final in the men’s category of the NSCI open squash championship on Thursday.
In the semifinals, top seed Sandhu of Tamil Nadu was 2-0 up after enduring a stiff challenge in the second game against Navy’s Vikas Jangra, who conceded the match while trailing 1-4 in the third. Vikas’ cousin Sandeep eased past Vrishab Kotian of Tamil Nadu 11-3 11-5 11-7. India No 3 Sandhu set himself up for a double crown after advancing to the doubles final along with state mate Ravi Dixit. Top seed Saumya Karki and Urvashi Joshi will continue their rivalry on court when they face each other in the women’s final.
While the seeded players in the seniors progressed without too much trouble, the juniors category produced some close encounters. Mumbai lad Tushar Shahani progressed with a nail-biting 9-11 11-7 11-6 10-12 13-11 win over Goa’s top junior Yash Fadte who wasted a match ball at 10-8 in the decider of the boys’ under-11 semifinals.
S Velavan of Tamil Nadu also endured a gruelling five-set encounter before rallying to a 8-11 11-9 4-11 12-10 11-8 win over Aishwarya Singh of Jindal Squash Academy to enter the boys’ under-15 final. Goa’s Akanksha Salunkhe experienced mixed fortunes while also enduring stiff semifinal encounters. Salunkhe, who shocked second seed Jui Kalgutkar on Wednesday, went down fighting to Mayuri N of Tamil Nadu, who won 11-4 12-10 9-11 14-12 in the girls’ under-15 semifinals.
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