India top's group with all win record, enters PQF

Chennai, Aug 4 (UNI) Fifth seeded India topped Group E with an all win record and advanced to the team event pre-quarterfinals of the 15th World Junior Men's Squash Championship at Zurich today.

After winning 3-0 over Venezuala yesterday, India retained the same trio of Ramit Tandon, Vikram Malhotra and Aditya Jagtap against Netherlands and came out with flying colours with a similar 3-0 verdict.

In their last league match, India faced stiff resistance before prevailing over United States 2-1 to maintain a clean slate in the league phase.

After virtually having a stroll in the park against Netherlands in the morning, the India-US match was closely contested before the Indians clinched the game.

Ravi Dixit gave the perfect start defeating Thomas Mattson in straight games 9-4 9-6 9-3.

Vikram played an outstanding match against US No 1 Todd Harrity, who had twice defeated him in junior event.

But Vikram again ended up on the losing side going down fighting 1-9, 9-6, 8-10, 6-9.

However, Aditya Jagtap played a memorable match against Alex Domenick winning the third rubber in five thrilling games 8-10, 9-7, 6-9, 9-5, 9-3.

The roller-coaster encounter lasted nearly 90 mins. Aditya started aggressively and raced to an 8-1 lead against Alex, arguably one of the quickest players in the tournament.

The joy was shortlived as Alex fought tooth and nail to win the second game. Both the players shared the next two games. In the fifth and deciding game, Aditya took charge and played some splendid squash to run away with the match.

From 2-2, he moved ahead to 7-2. The lead proved too long a gap to bridge and Alex threw in the towel.

Results: India bt US 2-1 (Ravi Dixit bt Thomas Mattson 9-4 9-6 9-3; Vikram Malhotra lost to Todd Harrity 1-9 9-6 8-10 6-9; Aditya Jagtap bt Alex Domenick 8-10 9-7 6-9 9-5 9-3).

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