Indian girls enter PQF in British junior open

Chennai, Jan 5 (UNI) It was a good day for Indian girls as four girls in the Under-13 category and one in Under-15 -- advanced to the prequarterfinals in the British Junior Open Squash championship today.

Barring Shria Khatri, who went down fighting, Aparajitha, Anaka and Sachika won their matches with consummate ease, while Saumya and Ankita had to go through tough five game duels before making the grade.

Mahesh Mangaonkar, the only Indian in the under-13 quarterfinals went down fighting to Pakistani Nematullah Khan in straight games 9-5, 10-9, 10-8.

Earlier in the day, Mahesh defeated Egyptian Ahmed Abdel Latif 4-9, 2-9, 9-3, 9-2, 9-4 to enter the last eight.

Other results: Boys U-15: Prequarters: Mohamed El Sherbeny (Egy) bt Ravi Dixit (IND) 9-3,7-9,4-9,9-5,10-8 Charles Sharpes (Eng) bt Ramit Tandon (IND) 9-4,5-9,10-8,9-7, Amr Khalid Khalifa (Egy) bt Aditya Jagtap (IND) 9-2, 9-2, 9-2 Girls U-13 : Round two: Aparajitha Balamurugan bt Eleanor Eppke (Eng) 9-0, 9-0, 9-1; Sachika Balvani bt Natalie Machin (Eng) 9-0, 9-1, 9-0; Anaka Alankamony bt Emma Payne (Eng) 9-2, 9-0, 9-0; Saumya Karki bt Hayul Lala (Egy) 9-4, 8-10, 3-9, 9-2, 9-6; Shria Khatri lost to Emily Whitlock (Eng) 1-9, 1-9, 2-9 Girls: Under-15: II round: Ankita Sharma bt Julia Lecoq 9-1, 9-6, 6-9, 5-9, 9-1 UNI GV ROY SAM VV1532