Sanjay Pawar stars in Palmer's win

Mumbai, Apr 6 (UNI) Sanjay Pawar won a marathon five-setter to star in Team Palmer's thrilling 6-4 win over Team Gaultier, in the inaugural Bombay Gymkhana-SRAM Squash League 2008 that got off to an exciting start over the weekend.

At the Bombay Gymkhana, Pawar overcame a strong challenge from a fit Raja Parthasarathy to set the stage for a close contest.

Palmer's Rishad Billimoria was forced to endure another tough tie against Pune's Anuj Behl of Gaultier, before Aakash Kutty of Palmer impressed against Ishaan Advani.

Shiv Malhotra and Aadit Zaveri pulled two back for Gaultier, but Palmer skipper Jehangir Surti clinched the battle of the captains over Vaman Apte to settle the issue.

At the Otters Club, Team Willstrop registered a similar 6-4 win over Team Matthew. Former national champion Manish Chotrani of Willstrop had too much ammunition for the talented Aditya Jagtap.

The Pune veterans experienced a mixed bag with Rohit Thawani of Matthew going down to Sachin Jadhav and Deepak Moolani of Matthew, winning his match.

Willstrop's Niraj Shirgaokar and Pranay Merchant clinched crucial wins to give their team a hard-fought win.

The next round will be played on April 26.

Results: At Bombay Gym: Team Shabana bt Team Ashour 7-4; Team Palmer bt Team Gaultier 6-4.

At Otters Club: Team Willstrop bt Team Matthew 6-4; Team Darwish bt Team Lincou 8-3.

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