Doshi douses Uberoi fire

Mumbai, Aug 18: It was carnival atmosphere at the Otters Club today as third seed Parth Doshi upset second seed Bikram Uberoi in the boys...

Mumbai, Aug 18: It was carnival atmosphere at the Otters Club today as third seed Parth Doshi upset second seed Bikram Uberoi in the boys8217; under-19 semi-finals of the Rs 85,000 Otters Club all-India Open squash tournament.

Doshi, who had lost to Uberoi the last three times the two met, attacked from the outset and after being tied at two games all, proved the stronger mentally to prevail 9-7, 4-9, 9-2, 2-9, 9-2.

In the final, Doshi will take on top seed Rohan Juneja, who was offered no contest by Junaid Nathani. Nathani, who is seeded No 1 in the under-17 and had already made the final of that category, did not want to even play the match. When he did go on to the court, he just went through the motions, the scoreline of 9-0, 9-0, 9-1 telling the tale.

Doshi, who had last played Uberoi in the World Cup junior qualifiers in June 1998 and lost, began attacking from the word go and his strategy paid dividends. Yet, it was these and the vociferous home support proved a booster for Doshi, who admitted so after the match.

8220;I was really pumped up. In my earlier matches, I had allowed him to take the initiative, but this time around I went all out. The crowd support also helped me stay focussed.8221;

Another player to steal the show was Siddharth Suchde, making the final of two categories. Suchde, unseeded in the under-17, beat Auloke Mathur 9-6, 7-9, 2-9, 9-5, 9-5. Earlier, he had made the final of the under-15, beating Surav Ghoshal 6-9, 9-1, 9-6, 9-5. Suchde will take on Nathani in the under-17 final and will meet top seed Mihir Sheth in the under-15 final.

Nathani dropped a game to fourth seed Neerav Tomar before winning 6-9, 9-3, 9-0, 9-2. Sheth had a straight-game win over Delhi8217;s Gaurav Nandrajog 9-6, 9-6, 9-5.

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The big names among the girls finally saw action with Deepali Anvekar and Joshna Chinappa winning comfortably to enter the finals. Joshna will feature in the under-19 and under-15 finals.

All semi-final results seedings in prefix:

Boys under-19: 1-Rohan Juneja bt Junaid Nathani 9-0, 9-0, 9-1; 3-Parth Doshi bt 2-Bikram Uberoi 9-7, 4-9, 9-2, 2-9, 9-2.

Under-17: Siddharth Suchde beat Auloke Mathur 9-6, 7-9, 2-9, 9-5, 9-5; 1-Junaid Nathani bt 4-Neerav Tomar 6-9, 9-3, 9-0, 9-2.

Under-15: 2-Siddharth Suchde bt Saurav Ghoshal 6-9, 9-1, 9-6, 9-5; 1-Mihir Sheth bt Gaurav Nandrajog 9-6, 9-6, 9-5.

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Under-13: 1-Gautam Kalani bt 4-Nikhil Seth 9-1, 9-7, 9-7; 3-Rishabh Vora bt Sandeep Jhangra 9-5, 9-2, 9-3.

Under-11:1-Alisha Mashruwala bt Harshjit Sethi 9-0, 6-9, 9-1, 9-1; Sandeep Jhangra bt 3-Jay Bhagat 9-6, 5-9, 9-5, 9-5.

Girls under-19: 2-Joshna Chinappa bt 3-Supriya Balsekar 9-2, 9-6, 9-0; 1-Deepali Anvekar bt 4-Rhea Bhandare 9-0, 9-1, 9-4.

Under-15: 1-Joshna Chinappa bt Natasha Lall 9-0, 9-4, 9-0; 2-Supriya Balsekar bt 3-Alisha Mashruwala 9-0, 9-4, 9-0.