Arjan Singh advances

CHENNAI, January 6: After a prolonged wait for three days, National champion and top seed Arjan Singh, whose lanky stature makes him reach t...

CHENNAI, January 6: After a prolonged wait for three days, National champion and top seed Arjan Singh, whose lanky stature makes him reach the ball with consummate ease finally got on to the court. Despite playing well below his best, he shrugged off the challenge from Navneet Narian 9-5, 9-5, 9-4 to enter the quarterfinals in the India-Cements Senior National Squash Championship at MCC, on Tuesday.

Asked about his performance, Arjan was candid. 8220;I played a poor match, but hopefully I will improve my game as the tournament goes by8221;.

The women8217;s quarterfinals went along expected lines with top seed Mekhla Subedar not allowing the local lass Viadehi Reddy a solitary point. Sohini Kumari, the second seed also had an easy time against Nandita Swaroop, winning 9-0, 9-0, 9-5. Third seed Swati Arora suffered a third game loss before downing Depali Anvekar 9-5, 9-7, 1-9, 9-2. Anjali Ponni Rajkumar, the local girl completed the semifinal lineup defeating Joshna Chinappa 9-4, 9-4, 9-3.

Results

Men PQF: Arjan Singh Del bt Navneet Narian Ser 9-5, 9-5, 9-4; Anuj Kalia Ser bt Rajesh Verma Del 6-9, 10-9, 9-3, 7-9, 9-5; Salil Bisht Ser w/o Hemant Mehta Mds; Rajdeep Brar Ser bt R Teotia Ser 10-9, 9-0, 9-1; Dhiraj Singh Jodhpur bt Milan Khurana Ser 9-1, 9-1, 9-5; Ritwik Bhattacharya Del bt Yogendra Singh Del 9-8, 9-0, 9-3; Gajendra Rathore Jodhpur bt S Rajamani Ser 9-4, 9-1, 10-9; Akhil Behl Bom bt Rishal Sawhney Del 9-0, 9-0, 9-3.

Women QF: Mekhla Subedar Mah bt Vaidehi Reddy Mds 9-0, 9-0, 9-0; Anjali Ponni Rajkumar Mds bt Joshna Chinappa Mds 9-4, 9-4, 9-3; Swati Arora Del bt Depali Anvekar Bom 9-5, 9-7, 1-9, 9-2; Sohini Kumari Del bt Nandita Swaroop Mds 9-0, 9-0, 9-5.

Professional: Rajesh Verma Del bt Santosh More Bom 9-6, 9-0, 9-0; Bala Murugan Mds bt Gopi Mohite Bom 9-6, 9-5, 9-1; Anant More Bom bt R Sonawane Bom 9-0, 9-5, 9-6; CS Pawar Bom bt AI Singh Chd 10-9, 9-5, 9-4.

Men Over 45 QF: Bharat Inder Singh bt UK Menon 9-1, 9-0, 9-0; Anjan Chinappa Mds bt Shiv Nanda 9-6, 9-1, 10-8; KJ Vora bt Munir Sait 9-1, 9-6, 9-1.

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Over 35 PQF: Anant More Bom w/o Salil Thomas Mds; Srivatsan Subramaniam bt K Shyam Sunder Mds 9-1, 9-6, 9-1.