With 10 players in the semifinals in various age categories in the boys’ and girls’ sections, India is set to win a few medals in the ongoing Asian junior individual squash championships, being held in Iran.
Hong Kong, Malaysia, India, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Iraq, Kuwait, Iran, Jordan are the participants.
The highlight of the Indians’ performance inlcude Asita Bhengra’s win over second-seeded Si Yi Ma (Mas) in four games and Vijay Kumar Meena’s ousting 3/4 seed from Malaysia Mohd. Kamal after being two games down and 4-7 in the decider.
Solid performances by Anaka Alankamony, Kush Kumar, Nikita Joshi and Harshit Kaur ensured India’s strong presence in the semifinals.
The results: Quarterfinals: Girls: U-13: Ashita Bhengra (Ind) bt Si Yi Ma (Mas) 3-1; Nikita Joshi (Ind) bt Koel Shankar (Ind) 3-0; U-15: Harshit Jawanda (Ind) bt Jui Kalgutkar (Ind) 3-0; Aiswarya Bhattacharya (Ind) lost to Zoe Yuk Han Foo (Mas) 3-0; Adya Advani (Ind) lost to Mihiiya Methsarani (Sri) 3-0.
U-17: Uravshi Joshi (Ind) lost to Pansy Pui Hei Chan (Hkg) 3-0; Lakshya Ragavendran (Ind) bt Uen Shan Choi (Hkg) 0-3.
U-19: Anaka Alankamony (Ind) bt Ankita Sharma 3-0; Sachika Ingale (Ind) lost to Ka Po Ho (Hkg) 3-0; Aparajitha Balamurukan (Ind) lost to Ka Hei Chu (Hkg) 3-0.
Boys: U-13: Dev Vazirani (Ind) bt Chaitanya Shah (Ind) 3-1; Aryan Prekh (Ind) lost to Hammas A. Tarar (Pak) 3-0; U-15: Velvan Senthilkumar (Ind) lost to Eain Yow NG (Mas) 3-0; Robin Mann (Ind)bt Ranjit Singh (Ind) 3-1; U-17: Kush Kumar (Ind) bt Safiuallah Khan(Pak) 3-0; Sandeep Ramachadran lost to Gurshan Singh(Mas) 1-3; Vijay Meena (Ind) bt M.S.M. Kamal (Mas) 3-2.
U-19: Mahesh Mangaonkar (Ind) bt Erfan Jamshidi (IRI) 3-0.
