The Leela Invitation Masters Squash began at the Leela
Squash courts on
Wednesday. The day appeared to be a good one for Paul Ferriera, who had
claimed the CCI open and the Hongkong Bank open titles last year.
Playing against Carl Bokdawala, Paul faced little threat and was able to
convert every opportunity to his advantage. Spectacular play by Paul
Ferriera saw him take the first game 15-8. Paul went on to take the next two
games 15-7 and 15-6. The son of legendary billiards player Michael Ferriera
now advances to the pre-quarterfinals to be held on Thursday.
In another match between Gaurav Juneja and Cyrus Poncha, Gaurav grabbed
the match from Cyrus after an exciting decider battle. Gaurav dominated the
first two games but Cyrus fought his way back into the game beating Gaurav
in the next two games 15-9,15-11.
With the scores tied at two games each, the match entered into the
decider, a see-saw battle of points then began between the two. Both players
fought hard in order to proceed to the next round. However, Cyrus lost two
successive points to lose the match 13-15. It was an easy victory for
Manish Chotrani against Jatin Mehta. Jatin lost in straight games 7-15,
9-15, 7-15.
Saket Wali’s battle went in vain after he lost the game to in straight
sets to Avinash Bhavnani after a long battle. When Saket lost the first game
it seemed that he would later fight back into the game. It was a close
encounter in the second game which went in favour of Avinash who won the
game 15-13. Avinash took the third game 15-3 to win the match.
Mumbai: Trailing by two games up, fifth-seeded
Cyrus Poncha fought back gallantly against seventh-seeded Gaurav Juneja but
lost the decider narrowly to go down 12-15, 13-15, 15-9, 15-7, 13-15 in the
first round (Open Class) of the Leela Masters Invitation Squash Tournament
here on Wednesday.
Former junior national champion and top seed Paul
Ferreira, in contrast had an easy outing against unseeded Carl Bokdawala and
went on to register a straight forward 15-8, 15-7, 15-6 win.
Third-seeded Manish Chotrani too proved too good for
unseeded Jatin Mehta and won without a sweat at 15-7, 15-9, 15-7.
Fourth-seeded Niraj Shirgaokar however was forced to drop a game before
getting the better of unseeded Nikhil Behl 15-13, 9-15, 15-10, 15-12 on way
to the second round.
Miranda of Maharashtra moved into the men’s singles
third round (above-45) of the Veteran’s National Badminton Championship at
the Bombay Gymkhana on Wednesday.
In the second round matches, the Delhi shuttler crushed
qualifier I.M.Rastogi of Uttar Pradesh 15-9, 15-6, while Miranda drubbed D.
Gopalkrishnan of Pondicherry 15-1, 15-2.
Fourth-seeded H.K Singh of Maharashtra rallied well,
after dropping the first game 11-15, to out unseeded D.P.Surti of Gujarat
11-15, 15-5, 15-10 while qualifier Shirish Nadkarni of Maharashtra too made
a fine rally to send Ambrese of Andhra Pradesh packing 10-15, 15-11, 15-5.
Others who made it to the third round were Som Raj
Gupta of Jammu and Kashmir, M.M Lalu of Karnataka, Vinay Singh of Manipur
(all qualifiers).
FERREIRA SHOCKED: second seeded Akhil Behl
shocked top seeded Paul Ferreira 15-12, 9-15, 16-17, 15-10, 15-8 in the
final of the Leela masters invitation squash tournament here on Saturday.
In a thrilling final replete with good
stroke play, Behl,
winner of the Asian Junior championship recently, pipped the former junior
national champion. Behl won Rs.6500 for his effort while Ferreira had to be
contend with Rs.5000/-.
In the contest for the third place, Niraj
Shirgaokar
beat Manish Chotrani 15-13, 14-15, 15-13, 15-13.
Cyrus Poncha rallied from two down to take
Gaurav Juneja to
the decider, before losing a well-fought encounter in the opening round of
The Leela Masters Squash Tournament, to which 16 of the city’s top players
were invited. The event is being held under the auspices of Indian Squash
Professional body was played at The Leela, here, on Wednesday. Juneja won
15-12, 15-13, 9-15, 11-15, 15-13.
Paul Ferriera had things much his way against Carl Bokdawala winning
15-8, 15-7, 15-6.
Ferriera to
play (Article in Free Press Journal,
Mumbai : 22/1/1997)
Former junior national champion Paul Ferriera, reigning junior national
champion Akhil Behl, Gaurav Juneja and Rohan Juneja from part of the 16 man
draw for the Rs.25,000 prize money Leela Masters Invitation Squash
Championship which is getting under way here on Wednesday.
The tournament is to conclude on January 25, a release stated on
Tuesday.
Other prominent names in the invited Cyrus Poncha, who
has drawn Singapore junior Open under-16 champion Gaurav Juneja as his first
round opponent, Niraj Shirgaokar and Yogesh Panchal, who meets Behl in the
opening round.
Mumbai, Jan 21: The Leela Group, which owns and manages
two of the finest 5 star deluxe properties in India. The Leela Mumbai and
the Leela Beach, Goa, will be organizing a four-day squash tournament The
Leela Squash Masters spectacular. The tournament will be held at The Finest
& Racquets center at The Leela, Mumbai, on January 22, 23, and 24.
The tournament is being played by invitation only to
the top ten players. Some of the top Indian squash players like Paul
Ferreira, the junior national champion 1995 and the Maharashtra State
champion, Akhil Behl, winner of the Asian Junior national champion 1996,
Gaurav Juneja, the U-16 Singapore Junior Open Squash winner and the
runners-up at the U-16 Malaysian Grand Finals, and Rohan Juneja, the
runners-up and the Hong Kong Open and the Singapore Open.
The game will be played on American points, a rolling
trophy and a cash prize of Rs.25,000/- has been declared. Trophies will also
be distributed to the winners.
The Leela group has earlier sponsored many other squash
events such as The Leela squash spectacular, which had two top International
players Peter Marshall, the world number 2, and Brett Martin, the world
number3, and The President’s squash cup tournament which was played at the
Leela’s air conditioned glass back squash court.
FORMER junior national champion and top seed Paul
Ferreira one game before subduing the spirited challenge of No.7 Gaurav
Juneja 15-9, 12-15, 15-11, 15-5 in a semifinal of the Leela squash Masters
invitation tournament here today. The inform Juneja, who won the recent
Singapore Junior open and finished runner-up at the Malaysian Grand,
succumbed to Ferreira, who played to plan to emerge victorious.
Mumbai, Jan 24: Top seed Paul Ferreira and Akhil Behl
made their way into the finals of the Leela Invitation Masters Squash
Tournament organized by the Indian Squash Professionals and being held at
The Leela squash court here on Friday.
Akhil Behl defeated Manish Chotrani 15-9, 15-9, 15-11
in the semifinals match. Manish was no match for Akhil who has previously
won the Asian Junior Perrier squash in Malaysian in 1995 and was the junior
national squash champion in 1996. Akhil showed his a superior game right
from the beginning of the first game. Manish’s weak point was well noted by
the champion and taken full advantage of Manish also had a lot of problems
with the tin. Akhil faced a bit of a threat in the third game. The fight
lasted for quite a long time but later went in favour of Akhil who won the
game and the match 15-11 to make his way into the finals to be played on
Saturday afternoon. In the other semifinals, Paul Ferreira defeated Niraj
Shirgaokar on his way to the finals.
Mumbai, Jan, 23: Anil Vaidya rallied his way back into
the game to win the crucial quarterfinal match 15-12, 13-15, 14-15, 15-6,
15-3. against Mangesh Nadkarni in the rs.25,000/- prize money Leela Masters
squash Tournament organized by Indian squash professionals held at Leela
squash court on Thursday.
It was an exciting encounter between the two players.
Anil won the first game 15-12 after a long battle. Mangesh made his way back
winning the second and the third game courageously. The way Mangesh won the
game it seemed that he would easily take the third game and the match. But
Anil proved himself better after winning the remaining two games 15-6,
15-13.
In another quarterfinal Paul Ferreira as expected moved
into the semifinal after he defeated Gaurav Juneja 15-9, 12-15, 15-11, 15-5.
He was taken to four games before he got better of his opponent. Gaurav
could prove his game only in the second game where he defeated Paul 15-12.
In the third quarterfinal Akhil Behl enjoyed a straight
games victory over his opponent Yogesh Panchal. Yogesh could not play to the
potentials of Akhil losing the match 2-15, 10-15, 15-10.
The winner will earn Rs.6,500/- while the runner-up
will be awarded with Rs.5,000/-.
19th
Tournament Organised by ISP
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Indian Squash Professionals
Address:
B/705, 7th Floor, Raylon Arcade, Next to Pidilite, Kondivita Lane, Andheri -East, Mumbai – 400 059
Tel : 9122-28314425/26/27
Mobile : +919819921785
Email: squashindia@yahoo.com
