Top four men's seeds move into semifinals of Western India squash

Mumbai, Nov 20 (UNI) Top seed Gaurav Nandrajog of Delhi scored a fluent win to lead the other seeds into the Men's Open semi-finals, in the 65th CCI Indiabulls Western India Open Squash Tournament, at the CCI here today.

India No 4 Nandrajog crushed unseeded Sami Johnson of Maharashtra 11-6, 11-0, 11-6 to set up a clash with third seed Sandeep Jangra of the Services, who overcame Amjad Khan of Delhi 11-9, 9-11, 11-5, 11-6 in an exciting tie.

Second seed and junior national champion Vikram Malhotra of Maharashtra beat unseeded Rohit More 11-4, 11-2, 11-2 to set up the other semi-final with fourth seed Vikas Jangra of the Services, who prevailed over Jindal lad Laxman Joshi 11-4, 11-3, 11-4.

CCI lad Aryan Hemdev made the most of home conditions when he rallied from a 0-2 deficit to upset third seed Kshitij Prasad 11-13, 3-11, 11-8, 11-4, 11-7 in a gruelling all-Maharashtra boys' under-11 quarter-final.

In the most exciting contest of the day, Hemdev lost the first game narrowly over extra points and was surprisingly subdued in the second after Prasad surged to a substantial lead.

But Hemdev discovered his form in the nick of time to clinch the third game. After winning the fourth, the pressure was back on Prasad in the decider fifth, where Hemdev snatched an early lead and held on to fashion a thrilling win.

Among the girls, third seed Khushy Aggarwal survived a minor scare before prevailing over No 5 seed Anushka Nair 11-7, 11-7, 9-11, 11-7 in an exciting under-15 quarter-final.

In contrast, top seed Saumya Karki and No 2 Shri Khatri sailed into the semi-finals following easy wins.

RESULTS: Men's Open (QF): 1-Gaurav Nandrajog (Del) bt Sami Johnson (Mah) 11-6, 11-0, 11-6; 3/4-Vikas Jangra (Services) bt 5/8-Laxman Joshi (Mah) 11-4, 11-3, 11-4; 2-Vikram Malhotra (Mah) bt Rohit More (Mah) 11-4, 11-2, 11-2; 3/4-Sandeep Jangra (Services) bt Amjad Khan (Del) 11-9, 9-11, 11-5, 11-6.

Women (QF): 3/4-Dr Deepali Anwekar-Parikh (Mah) bt Shaheen Madraswala (Mah) 11-7, 11-2, 11-3; Rachita Vora (Mah) bt 3/4-Shaheda Madraswala (Mah) 11-2, 11-2, 11-5.

Boys U-19 (QF): 1-Mahesh Mangaonkar (Mah) bt 5/8-Caran Arora (Mah) 11-5, 11-6, 11-3; 3/4-Sami Johnson (Mah) bt 5/8-Pranay Merchant (Mah) 6-11, 8-11, 11-5, 11-1, 11-6; 3/4-Karm Kumar bt 5/8-Abhinav Sinha (Mah) 11-8, 12-10, 11-9; 2-Laxman Joshi (Mah) bt Dipesh Borhade (Mah) 11-9, 11-2, 11-4.

Boys U-17 (QF): 1-Mahesh Mangaonkar (Mah) bt Armaan Shaikh (Mah) 11-3, 11-3, 11-5; 3/4-Samir Mistry (Mah) bt 5/8-Viraj Nayar (Mah) 11-8, 11-9, 11-6; 2-Karm Kumar (Mah) bt 5/8-Rahil Aliff Fazelbhoy (Mah) 11-3, 11-9, 11-9.

Boys U-15 (QF): 1-Kush Kumar (Del) bt Vardhan Ladiwala (Mah) 11-9, 7-11, 11-2, 11-9; 3/4-Rahil Aliff Fazelbhoy (Mah) bt Harshit Muchal (Rajl) 11-4, 11-8, 11-2; Abhimanyu Shah (Mah) bt 5/8-Divij Singh (Del) 11-6, 11-6, 11-5; 2-Deepak Mishra (Del) bt Arjun Kochhar (Mah) 11-5, 11-2, 11-7.

Boys U-13 (QF): 1-Kush Kumar (Del) bt Junaid (Del) 11-3, 11-2, 11-1; 3/4-Yohan Pandole (Mah) bt 5/8-Karan Kochhar (Mah) 11-0, 11-2, 11-9; Ranjeet Singh (UP) bt 3/4-Roshan (TN) 5-11, 11-7, 2-11, 11-7, 11-6; 2-Abhimanyu Shah (Mah) bt Mukul Yadav (Del) 11-4, 11-6, 10-12, 11-3.

Boys U- 11 (QF): 1-Ranjeet SIngh (UP) bt 5/8-Abhay Singh (TN) 11-1, 11-3, 11-5; 3/4-Yohann Surti (Mah) bt 5/8- Senthil Kumar Velavan (TN) 7-11, 11-8, 8-11, 11-4, 11-5; 5/8-Aryan Hemdev (Mah) bt 3/4-Kshitij Prasad (Mah) 11-13, 3-11, 11-8, 11-4, 11-7; 2-Rajat A (Mah) bt Zain Motiwala (Mah) 11-6, 11-2, 11-2.

Girls U-19 (QF): 1-Saumya Karki (Mah) bt Anissa Malhotra (Mah) 11-0, 11-5, 11-0; 3/4-Shaheen Madraswala (Mah) bt Aishwarya Kulkarni (Mah) 11-2, 11-6, 11-3; 3/4-Shaheda Madraswala (Mah) bt Khushy Aggarwal (Mah) 11-1, 11-2, 11-2; 2-Shria Khatri (Mah) bt Aishwarya Nambiar (Mah) 11-4, 11-4, 11-4.

Girls U-15 (QF): 1-Saumya Karki (Mah) bt Rayna Kishanchandra (Mah) 11-3, 11-0, 11-4; 3/4-Khushy Aggarwal (Mah) bt 5/8-Anushka Nair (Mah) 11-7, 11-7, 9-11, 11-7; 2-Shria Khatri (Mah) bt 5/8-Aishwarya Nambiar (Mah) 11-5, 11-1, 11-1.

Under-9 (QF): 1-Aryan Parekh (Mah) bt Abhinav Tyagraj (Mah) 11-1, 11-3, 11-1; Nikita Joshi (Mah) bt Mahir Jhaveri (Mah) 11-6, 11-6, 11-2; 3/4-Daksha Pathak (Mah) bt Advaik Adik (Mah) 11-2, 11-3, 9-11, 11-1; 2-Veer Chotrani (Mah) bt Jash Chheda (Mah) 11-5, 11-7, 11-6.

Masters (QF): 1-Manish Chotrani (Mah) bt 5/8-Mohnish Sawant (Mah) 11-6, 11-0, 11-7.

Veterans (QF): 5/8-Anant More (Mah) bt R. Sheshadri (Mah) 11-6, 11-4, 11-9; 5/8-Gopichand Mohite (Mah) bt 2-Vijay Jaini (Del) 11-6, 11-4, 11-8.

Professionals (QF): 1-Cuauntemoc Gomez (Mah) bt Shakair Hussain (Del) 11-13, 11-7, 11-5, 11-3; 3/4-Sanjay Pawar (Mah) bt 5/8-Sachin Jadhav (Mah) 11-6, 11-8, 11-13, 11-4; 3/4-Amjad Khan (Del) bt 5/8-Vijay Waghela (Mah) 11-2, 11-2, 11-6; 5/8-Farman Khan (Del) bt 2-Rohit More (Mah) 11-7, 9-11, 11-8, 6-11, 16-14.

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