Velavan Senthilkumar beat Adhitya Raghavan 11-8, 11-7, 11-4 to emerge winner in the boys’ under-19 category of the ISA junior open squash at the Indian Squash Academy on Saturday.
Except for a bruise on his nose, caused by Adhitya’s bat-swing, that left him bleeding lightly and had him stepping aside for a while, Velavan was in complete control.
It was smooth sailing for Sunayna Kuruvilla as she beat Ashita Pranaya Bhengra 12-10, 12-10, 11-6 in the girls’ under-17 category. Tushar Shahani of Maharashtra beat Veer Chotrani, also of Maharashtra, 8-11, 11-7, 11-6, 8-11, 11-3 in a tight five-gamer in the boys’ under-17 category. There were loud cheers for Rohan Arya Gondi of Telangana who beat second-seeded Shaurya Bawa of Delhi in four games in the under-11 category.
Dipika Pallikal and Malaysia’s Delia Arnold enthralled the spectators with an exhibition match in between.
Former SRFI president K.S. Sripathi was the chief guest and gave away the prizes. Also present was World Squash Federation and Indian Olympic Association president N. Ramachandran.
The results (finals): Boys: Under-11: Rohan Arya Gondi bt Shaurya Bawa 11-8, 9-11, 11-4, 11-8; U-13: Atharva Yadav bt Aaryaman Jaising 11-5, 11-8, 11-6; U-15: Gautam Nagpal bt Sankalp Anand 15-13, 11-7, 11-8; U-17: Tushar Shahani bt Veer Chotrani 8-11, 11-7, 11-6, 8-11, 11-3; U-19: Velavan Senthilkumar bt Adhitya Raghavan 11-8, 11-7, 11-4.
Girls: U-11: Gitanjali Vasudevan bt Kaavya Bansal 11-5, 11-6, 11-7; U-13: Diksha Aurobindo bt Abhisheka Shannon 13-11, 4-11, 11-6, 11-7; U-15: Megha Bhatia bt S. Samita 11-9, 11-9, 9-11, 11-7; U-17: Sunayna Kuruvilla bt Ashita Pranaya Bhengra 12-10, 12-10, 11-6.
