Bikram sets the light; good day for Vaidehi

JANUARY 11: For sheer intensity of the contest and easily the match of the tournament so far, it was worth going all the way. The giant-ki...

JANUARY 11: For sheer intensity of the contest and easily the match of the tournament so far, it was worth going all the way. The giant-killing run of the unseeded Bikram Uberoi had an extension when he scalped the fourth seed and one of the favourites Anuj Kalia in the men’s singles quarter-finals of the India Cements National Squash Championship at the Madras Race Club courts on Monday.

It was a veritable feast as Uberoi came a long way from behind to upset Kalia’s rhythm. Down by two games, Uberoi belonged to the school in giving it a best shot with a prayer on the lips as an insurance factor. That kept him going and what a transformation he gave to the script. For the small gathering, starved of a rich fare, it was quite a fill and it was heady stuff so long as the course lasted.

Uberoi talked to himself when the going was tough and it was amazing that a 18-year-old could wriggle out of the tight spots as frequently as he did. As he was to admit when it was all over, the win will rank as one of the most important one of his blossoming career. Bikram won 0-9, 3-9, 9-3, 9-3, 9-6.

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Bikram runs into top seed Ritwik Bhattacharya in the semis. The few times they have met have been close encounters. The one extra factor in favour of Bikram is that all the pressure will be on Ritwik, with the tag of the holder.

Joining Bikram in the last four were top seeded Ritwik Bhattacharya and third seeded Manish Chotrani. Ritwik ignored the challenge or the lack of it from Dheeraj Singh, winning 9-4, 9-2, 9-2. Manish had the measure of sixth seed Gajendra Singh Rathore, 9-1, 9-0, 9-7.

Tamil Nadu girl Vaidehi Reddy would have been the star of the day but for Uberoi’s glittering show. A calm and composed Vaidehi beat her good friend and second seed Pia Abraham to enter the Under-19 final, 9-7, 3-9, 10-9, 9-3.

Vaidehi took a little to warm-up and some solid strokes from the rear not forgetting those slices at the net, had lot of optimism written all over. Vaidehi runs into top seed Deepali Anvekar, who loved every minute of her short stint in the middle. The small price Priyanka Yadav had to pay was the 1-9, 1-9, 0-9 defeat.

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Top seed Mekhala Subedar defeated Anaheta Dhalla 9-1, 9-0, 9-3, while third seed Pia Abraham had to dig into her reserves for a 9-4, 9-10, 9-4, 9-1 verdict over Anjali Ponni Rajkumar.

Vaidehi scalped Supriya Balsekar 9-3, 6-9, 9-1, 9-1.

Other results

Boys U-19 (QF): Bikram Uberoi bt Manish Mehta 9-1, 9-0, 9-2; Neerav Tomar bt Tejveer Singh 9-7, 9-0, 9-6; Junaid Nathani bt Shakti Singh 9-2, 9-2, 6-9, 9-4; Mihir Kapoor bt Gaurav Yadav 9-2, 9-1, 9-2.

Professionals (PQF): Santosh More bt R Sonawane 9-6, 9-2, 9-7; Ananth More bt R Gujjar 9-2, 9-5, 9-0; Dalip Tripathi bt C S Pawar 9-0, 9-5, 9-0; Gopi Mohite bt Vilas Tambe 9-5, 9-7, 9-0.

Over 35: BI Singh bt Munir Sait 9-5, 9-0, 9-0; Vaman Apte bt Rajiv Reddy 9-5, 9-6, 9-2; R S Brar w.o Harish Melwani; L K Agnihotri w.o S Srivatsan.

In Odisha, Modi mounts ‘loot tantra-vs-bachat utsav’ attack on Congress over GST

India58 min ago

Prime Minister Narendra Modi Saturday hailed the revised Goods and Services Tax (GST) structures, saying the era of “double bachat (saving) and double kamai (income)” has arrived under the Bharatiya Janata Party rule. Addressing the ' Namo Yuva Samabesh' in Jharsuguda, Modi accused the Congress of indulging in “loot tantra (tactics)” while in power.

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