Ritwik, Mandy for Otters Open squash tourney

Mumbai, June 3 (UNI) India Number two Ritwik Bhattacharya and Mandy Kennedy will be participating in the prestigious Otters Open Squash Tournament 2008, organised and hosted by the OTTERS CLUB, Bandra, to be held from June 8 to 15.

Leading players from India will feature in the tournament, being held under the aegis of the Squash Rackets Federation of India and under the auspices of the Squash Rackets Association of Maharashtra.

This edition of the Otters Open has attracted a record 600 entries in 13 categories that include a strong contingent from Delhi and a huge pool of talented juniors.

World Number 58 Ritwik, will be challenged by 2006 runner-up Harinderpal Singh and former National champion Manish Chotrani. The other significant players in the fray are Supreet Singh and the formidable Parth Sharma of Jaipur.

The Men's winner will receive Rs one lakh, while the runner-up will earn Rs 50,000.

Among the juniors to watch out for, are the country's top under-19 exponent Vikram Malhotra, German Open winner and European under-17 Number three Aditya Jagtap, Abhishek Pradhan, Laxman Joshi, Sachika Balvani, Saumya Karki, Ankita Sharma, girls under-13 National champion Urwashi Joshi and boys under-11 National champion Yohan Pandole.

Mandy Kennedy of England has made it a rewarding stay in India after bagging the women's title in the last two years. Trying to stop her from earning a hat-trick will be second seed Dr Deepali Parikh-Anwekar, Number three Sachika Balvani and Number four Saumya Karki.

Adding foreign flavour will be 2007 Professionals winner Temo Gomez of Mexico, who will again feature in the same category as the top seed.

SEEDINGS: Men: 1. Ritwik Bhattacharya, 2. Harinderpal Singh, 3. Manish Chotrani, 4. Supreet Singh, 5. Parth Sharma, 6. Vikram Malhotra, 7.

Akhil Behl, 8. Aditya Jagtap.

Women: 1. Mandy Kennedy, 2. Deepali Parikh, 3. Sachika Balvani, 4.

Saumya Karki, 5. Swati Muchal, 6. Dheeya Somaiya, 7. Shria Khatri, 8. Ankita Sharma.

Boys U-19: 1. Vikram Malhotra, 2. Aditya Jagtap, 3. Laxman Joshi, 4.

Sujat Barua, 5. Abhinav Sinha, 6. Rishi Jalan, 7. Karm Kumar, 8.

Sami Johnson.

Girls U-15: 1. Sachika Balvani, 2. Saumya Karki, 3. Shria Khatri, 4.

Ankita Sharma, 5. Namrata Purohit, 6. Shweta Yadav, 7. Anadita Gupta, 8. Urwashi Joshi.

UNI GS RN RKM NS1942