Top seed Abhay Singh got off to a smooth start as he beat Guhan Senthilkumar 11-7, 11-2, 11-9 in the first round of the HCL PSA Challenger squash tournament at the Dhyan Chand National Stadium here on Saturday.
Having won six titles, the 70th ranked Abhay Singh would be keen to sustain his good work in the new season, and climb further in the world rank to be able to compete in higher level events.
With matches thoughtfully scheduled after 12 noon to help players overcome the chill of the Capital, the international event got off to a vibrant start.
In another match, Yusuf Elsherif of Egypt overcame a stiff resistance from Aarav Gill 11-7, 5-11, 11-4, 11-6.
With the top eight seeds including world No.1 junior Amina Orfi of Egypt getting a bye in the first round, it was smooth ride for the rest, in the women’s section.
The results (first round):
Men: Abhay Singh bt Guhan Senthilkumar 11-7, 11-2, 11-9; Rahul Baitha bt Shaurya Bawa 11-2, 11-5, 11-7; Hoony Lee (Kor) bt Rounak Yadav 11-9, 11-6, 11-5; Yousif Thani (Bah) bt Stephen Hearst (Irl) 12-10, 6-11, 11-7, 11-7; Matthew Lai (Hkg) bt Paarth Ambani 8-11, 11-8, 11-4, 11-7; Seif Ashraf (Egy) bt Kalash Talati 11-1, 11-1, 11-4; Ravi Dixit bt Ranvijay Singh Sidhu 11-7, 11-4, 11-3; Om Semwal bt Toufik Mekhalfi (Fra) 11-9, 11-7, 11-7; Sandeep Ramachandran bt Arihant KS 11-5, 11-2, 11-1; Yusuf Elsherif (Egy) bt Aarav Gill 11-7, 5-11, 11-4, 11-6; Tavneet Singh Mundra bt Jaideep Singh Sethi 12-14, 11-4, 11-7, 11-3; Tomotaka Endo (Jpn) bt Pardeep Malik 12-10, 11-9, 11-7; Ravindu Laksiri (Sri) bt Adarsh Banodha 11-4, 11-4, 11-4; Harinder Pal Singh Sandhu bt Suraj Kumar Chand 11-5, 11-5, 11-3; Mohamed Gohar bt Jaejin Yoo (Kor) 11-9, 11-8, 11-7; Yassin Elshafei (Egy) bt Aryan Pratap Singh 11-5, 11-3, 11-6.
Women: Kaashvi Mangal bt Sanika Choudhari 11-6, 11-1, 11-5; Dong Ju Song (Kor) bt Bijali Darvada 11-2, 11-1, 11-4; Janet Vidhi bt Nirupama Dubey 11-9, 11-5, 11-8; Khushi Puranik bt Mahak Talati 11-1, 11-0, 11-2; Yuvna Gupta bt Tharushi Kavindya (Sri) 11-1, 11-1, 11-2; Mingyong Heo (Kor) bt Sanvi Battar 11-4, 11-8, 11-5; Amira Elrefaey (Egy) bt Navya Sundararajan 11-5, 11-2, 11-8; Rathika Suthanthira Seelan bt Aradhya Pordiwal 11-7, 11-3, 11-8.
= = = EOM
