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Squash
Sohini Kumari shocks Priyanka
By S.R. Suryanarayan
CHENNAI, DEC. 8 Fitness is the key and then the skills to dominate. Delhi's Sohini Kumari, sister of that notable champion of yesteryear, Bhuvaneswari, showed a mix of both while upsetting the fourth seed Priyanka Yadav of Maharashtra in the women's quarterfinal match of the Senior national squash championship at the SDAT-India Cements Academy on Saturday.
Sohini had lost to Priyanka in a close finish in the recent Maharashtra Open but it proved a sweet revenge here. Eager to perform better, the Delhi girl had arrived here early and seeing her in the practice session even top seeded Mekhala Subedar felt that she could be a tough opponent. Incidentally the two are to face each other in the semifinal. The ability to find the area above the tin with consistency helped her and then the variations in returns. Priyanka wearing a green scarf as a head- gear started off well with her crisp shots but then tired quickly to concede the advantage.
In comparison Mekhala's win over Tamil Nadu girl Arathi paled of as did another girl Divya Rajan's downfall to the tough Maharashtra medical student, Deepali Anvekar. Deepali, seeded three, meets Joshna Chinappa, who had another easy day, local girl Sonali Philip being her victim.
Men's competition provided sharper contests. Last year's runner-up Manish Chotrani, ever the agile and keen competitor had third seed Dhiraj Singh moving to his dictates. Being unseeded Chotrani can be considered to have caused an upset but the former champion from Maharashtra is in a different league. As is Bikram Uberoi who gives the impression of being casual on court but only his opponent, Arif Paul in today's match, will vouch how deceptive he could be. Masking his returns with adeptness, Bikram made Arif stretching and catching for breath. In comparison top seed Ritwik Bhattacharya and Gajendra Singh (making his first entry into a semifinal) had it easier.
The results: Men: quarterfinals: Ritwik Bhattacharya (Del) bt Rajat Johar (TN) 9-0, 9-3, 9-4; Gajendra Singh (MP) bt Navneet Narain (SSCB) 9-4, 9-5, 9-3; Manish Chotrani (Mah) bt Dhiraj Singh (Raj) 9-7, 9-2, 9-2; Bikram Uberoi (Mah) bt Arif Paul (Mah) 2-9, 9-3, 9-6, 9-5; (third round): Ritwik Bhattacharya bt Gaurav Yadav (Pun) 9-1, 9-0, 9-0; Rajat Johar bt A. Kalia (SSCB) 9-0, 4- 0 concd; Navneet Narain bt Satyajit Sheshadri (TN) 9-0, 9-2, 9-0; Gajendra Singh bt Sandeep Chouta (Karna) 9-4, 9-2, 9-3; Dhiraj Singh bt Cyrus Poncha (TN) 9-0, 9-2, 6-9, 9-0; Manish Chotrani bt Shakti Singh (Del) 9-0, 9-1, 9-1; Arif Paul bt T. Nauni (SSCB) 9- 0 9-3, 9-3; Bikram Uberoi bt G. Bhandari (SSCB) 9-4, 9-3, 9-5.
Women: Quarterfinals: Mekhala Subedar (Mah) bt B. Arathi (TN) 9-2, 9-0, 9-0; Sohini Kumari (Del) bt Priyanka Yadav (Mah) 9-4, 9-3, 9-6; Deepali Anvekar (Mah) bt Divya Rajan (TN) 9-5, 9-1, 9-3; Joshna Chinappa (TN) bt Sonali Philip (TN) 9-2, 9-2, 9-1
Professional: Quarterfinals: Balamurugan (TN) bt Vijay Sonawane (Mah) 9-0, 9-3, 9-0; Santosh More (Mah) bt Rajesh Sonavane (Mah) 9-2, 9-3, 9-4; Dilip Tripathi (WB) bt Rohit More (Mah) 9-4, 9-2, 9-1.
Over-35:quarterfinals: Srivatsan Subramaniam (TN) bt Sanjay Gadhalay (TN) 9-2 9-1, 9-6; V. Laxman (TN) bt Imtiaz Ahmed (TN) 9-5, 3-9, 9-2, 9-1; Rohit Thawanin (Mah) bt Hemant Mehta (TN) 9-1, 9-1, 9-5; Vaman Apte (Mah) bt A. Ganesan (TN) 9-3, 9-3, 9-2.
Over 45: quarterfinals: M. Meyappan (TN) bt Harish Uberoi (TN) 9-0, 9-0, 9-3; P. Sivaraj (TN) bt K. Balasubramaniam (TN) 9-7, 9-6, 1-9, 9-7; Muneer Sait (TN) bt Pothen Philip (TN) 9-4, 9-5, 9-7; Rajeev Reddy (TN) bt N. Vishwanathan (TN) 9-5, 9-2, 9-0.
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