Two Indians enter Round of 32 in World Junior Squash

Chennai, Jul 29 (UNI) India's Vikram Malhotra and Aditya Jagtap moved into the round of 32, while three others bite the dust in the World Junior Squash Championship being held at Zurich in Switzerland early today.

Vikram easily defeated Fahad B Al-Ramezy of Kuwait 9-0, 9-2, 9-1 and Joshua Larkin of Australia 9-4, 9-3, 9-6 in the third and fourth rounds respectively to enter the last 32 stage.

Aditya too joined Vikram in the round of 32 but had to dig deep to overcome a determined Frederick Reid from Canada who used his volleys and drops to telling effect.

It was Aditya's sheer guts and tactical play that saw him through to the next round after 52 minutes of intense battle with a 9-0, 9-4, 7-9, 10-8 verdict. Earlier Aditya had another good win defeating Jo Wen from Malaysia 9-4, 9-5, 2-9, 9-4.

Other Indians in the fray, Ravi Dixit, Paramit Singh and Mahesh Mangaonkar won their third round matches, but went down fighting in the next round to higher ranked opponents.

Results: Third Round: Vikram Malhotra (IND) bt Fahad B Al-Ramezy (KUW) 9-0 9-2 9-1; Paramit Singh (IND) bt Fausto Gomez (ESP) 9-2 9-7 9-1; Aditya Jagtap (IND) bt Jo Wen Ng (Mal) 9-4 9-5 2-9 9-4; Mahesh Mangaonkar (IND) bt Dimitri Diamadopoulos (ITA) 9-0 9-3 9-1; Joe Lee (ENG) bt Karan Malik (IND) 9-0 9-6 9-0; Joshua Larkin (AUS) bt Abishek Pradhan (IND) 4-9 4-9 10-8 9-1 9-1.

Fourth Round: Aditya Jagtap (IND) bt Frederick Reid (CAN) 9-0 9-4 7-9 10-8; Vikram Malhotra (IND) bt Joshua Larkin (AUS) 9-4 9-3 9-6; Wael Farag (EGY) bt Ravi Dixit (IND) 9-3 9-2 9-6; Chun Ming Leo Au (HKG) bt Paramit Singh (IND) 9-0 9-1 9-6; Keagan Burkhart (NZ) bt Mahesh Mangaonkar (IND) 10-8 9-4 9-6.

UNI GV AB HS1212