Nathani upsets fourth seed Mihir

MUMBAI, AUG 17: Junaid Nathani hogged the limelight in the quarter-finals of the Rs 85,000 Otters Club all-India Open squash tournament a...

MUMBAI, AUG 17: Junaid Nathani hogged the limelight in the quarter-finals of the Rs 85,000 Otters Club all-India Open squash tournament at the Club’s premises, here, today. Nathani, unseeded among the under-19, upset fourth seed Mihir Kapoor in four games and then lived up to his top billing in the under-17 age group by defeating Sahil Vora in straight games at 9-2, 9-8, 9-5.

Also ending on the losing side was Mihir’s younger brother Vishal Kapoor, seeded second in the boys under-17. Vishal was upset by the unseeded Siddharth Suchde in straight games.

Rohan Juneja and Bikram Uberoi, the No. 1 and 2 seeds in the under-19 made the last four stage without much ado. While Uberoi disposed off Aftab Mathur 9-1, 9-0, 9-2, Juneja appeared disinterested as he dropped the first game to Delhi’s Neerav Tomar, before getting his act together to win 2-9, 9-0, 9-0, 9-5.

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The under-19 semi-finals pits Uberoi versus the third seed Parth Doshi, while Juneja will take on Junaid Nathani. In the under-17 category, SiddharthSuchde will take on Auloke Mathur, while Neerav Tomar will meet Junaid Nathani.

Calcutta’s Saurav Ghoshal continued his fine run in this tournament, upsetting the progress of third seed Sahil Vora in the under-15 category. Ghoshal, who just turned 13 on August 10, recovered after dropping the first two games to prevail in five games at 5-9, 7-9, 9-2, 9-4, 9-1. The hard-fought second game took its toll on Sahil, and he just couldn’t get his feet moving in the following games.

However, Ghoshal too paid the price for the tough match, losing later in straight games his under-17 match to Auloke Mathur at 9-0, 9-3, 9-6.

In the girls section, under-19 top seed Deepali Anvekar and under-15 top seed Joshna Chinnappa will finally see action on Wednesday, seeded directly into the semi-finals. Deepali takes on Rhea Bhandare, while Joshna meets Supriya Balsekar. In the under-15 Joshna meets Natasha Lall, while Mashruwala meets Supriya Balsekar.

RESULTS (SEEDINGS IN PREFIX)

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BOYS under-19: 1-Rohan Juneja btNeerav Tomar 2-9, 9-0, 9-1, 9-5; 2-Bikram Uberoi bt Aftab Mathur 9-1, 9-0, 9-2; Junaid Nathani bt 4-Mihir Kapoor 2-9, 9-7, 9-2, 9-5. Under-17: 4-Neerav Tomar bt 5-Mihir Sheth 9-7, 9-0, 5-9, 9-6; Siddharth Suchde bt 2-Vishal Kapoor 9-5, 9-6, 9-2; Auloke Mathur bt Saurav Ghoshal 9-0, 9-3, 9-6; Sahil Vora bt 1-Junaid Nathani 9-2, 9-8, 9-5. Under-15: 1-Mihir Sheth bt Rishabh Sanghvi 9-7, 9-0, 9-6; Saurav Ghoshal bt 3-Sahil Vora 5-9, 7-9, 9-2, 9-4, 9-1; 4-Gaurav Nadarjog bt Karan Pal Sethi 9-4, 9-0, 10-9. Under-13: 1-Gautam Kalani bt Manek Mathur 9-1, 9-0, 9-6; 3-Rishabh Vora bt Harshjit Sethi 9-3, 9-5, 9-7; Sandeep Jhangra bt Jay Bhagat 9-1, 9-1, 9-2; 4-Nikhil Seth bt Naishad Lalwani 9-1, 9-3, 9-5. Under-11: 3-Jay Bhagat bt Vir Seth 9-0, 9-0, 9-0; Harsjit Sethi bt Vikram Malhotra 9-7, 9-7, 10-8; Sandeep Jhangra bt 2-Naishad Lalwani 9-7, 9-7, 9-1; 1-Alisha Mashruwala bt Varun Dattani 9-1, 9-0.

GIRLS under-19: 4-Rhea Bhandare bt Rachita Vora 9-4, 9-1, 9-2; 3-Supriya Balsekar bt Priyanka Yadav 8-10, 9-4, 4-9,10-8, 9-1. Under-15: 3-Alisha Mashruwala bt Liana Deboo 9-3, 9-1, 9-0; Natasha Lall bt 4-Shyla Pandole.