At
Royal Palms Golf and Country Club, Mumbai:
(1.11.1998)
At
the prize distribution ceremony of the tournament held at Royal Palms,
Goregaon, Mumbai from left to right front row: Kavita
Nalavade, Deepali
Anvekar, Chandrakant Pawar & Sunil
Verma (The Leela team, runner-up) along with
Mahendra
Agarwal (Founder Director, ISP). Back row from left to right: Dilawar
Nensey (Joint M.D. Royal Palms India),
Dean
Jones (Cricketer & Chief Guest),
Subhash
Wali (Director, ISP) & Roger
Binny
Otters Club ‘A’ demonstrated their overall strength
in a display of inspired execution, doled out a 3-1 belting to The Leela
to win the Rs.62,500 Royal Palms handicap team squash tournament,
organized by the Indian Squash Professionals on Sunday.
A heavy handicap dampened neither the spirits nor the
performance of the stars in their midst, as the Otters players scored
comprehensive wins over the younger and less experienced Leela contingent.
Manish Chotrani, considered as India’s best current squash player gave
Saket Wali, one of the leading youngsters of the day, a lesson or two
about the fighting to the end. Playing with a handicap of 10 points,
Chotrani overcame a one game deficit twice in the match to complete a
10-15, 15-10, 10-15, 17-16, 15-13 win over the youngster.
Players like Manish Chotrani can be beaten only if
given a handicap of 14 points, opined one of the players Leela were
handicapped by the absence of the in-form Deepali Anvekar, who was
unavailable due to her examinations. Their ploy of holding back the
seasoned fighter Chandrakant Pawar for the decider failed as Otters
wrapped up the match in four games itself, to walk away with winner’s
cheque of Rs.25,000.
Otters Club ‘B’ contrary to expectations as well as
handicaps lost a close encounter against Willingdon Catholic Gymkhana to
miss out on third place. Willingdon prevailed 3-2 over their rivals, with
Sanjay Goyal winning a key match against Vijay Sonawane.
Otters Club ‘A’ demonstrated their overall strength
while defeating The Leela, 3-1, in the Rs.62,500 Royal Palms handicap team
squash tournament, organized by the Indian Squash Professionals, on
Sunday.
The heavy handicap they had to carry proved no
deterrent to the star players in their midst. Manish Chotrani, currently
rated as India’s No.1, for instance, gave Saket Wali, one of the leading
youngsters, 10 points and a beating in the opening match.
Karanpal Sethi, an under 12, also pitched in by
defeating Kavita Nalavade who had an eight-points advantage. Professional
Santosh More recorded the other victory for Otters ‘A’. He beat Subhash
Wali who began each game at 10-love players like Manish Chotrani can be
beaten only if given a handicap of 14 points, opined one player. The Leela
were handicapped by the absence of Deepali Anvekar who was preoccupied
with examinations. Their move to hold back Chandrakant Pawar, one of the
top pros and a tremendous fighter, for the fifth and final match was in
vain as Otters ‘A’ clinched the issue by the fourth match.
The triumph enabled Otters ‘A’ to bag the top prize
of Rs.25,000 They picked up another Rs.10,000 through Otters ‘B’ even
though, contrary to expectations, Otters ‘B’ lost to recent entrants
Willingdon Catholic Gymkhana in the match to decide third place.
In a close encounter Willingdon prevailed at 3-2,
Sanjay Goyal winning a key match against Vijay Sonawane who had a
six-points advantage. Rajesh Sonawane (plus six) scored a fine victory
over Niraj Shirgaokar and Sudesh Malik clinched the decider.
In the semi-finals on Saturday, Otters ‘A’ had beaten
Otters ‘B’ 3-1, and The Leela had scored over Willingdon Catholic Gymkhana
3-2.
Former cricketers, Dean Jones of Australia and
India’s Roger Binny, who had come to take part in a golf event organized
by the Royal Palms Golf and Country club, and Mr. Dilawar Nensey, of the
Royal Palms, gave away the prizes.
The Leela and Otters Club ‘A’ will vie for the top
prize of Rs.25,000/- in the Rs.52,500/- Royal Palms handicap team squash
tournament, Organized by Indian Squash Professionals on Sunday.
Both encountered stiff opposition before the final at
the Royal Palms Golf and Country Club’s court at Goregaon on Saturday. The
Leela, especially, had to sweat it out against Willingdon Catholic
Gymkhana by three matches to two.
After Deepali Anvekar, the national under-19
runner-up, and Saket Wali, just out of the junior ranks, had given The
Leela a seemingly comfortable 2-0 lead Willingdon Catholic Gymkhana fought
back through Bipin Batra and Rashak Malhotra to draw level.
The decider was bitterly fought between two
professionals and Chandrakant Pawar rose to the occasion to overcome
Rajesh Sonawane who had a 6-0 advantage in handicap in a lively five-game
tussle to settle the issue in The Leela’s favour.
Though Otters A beat Otters B 3-1 in the other
semifinal it was from a domestic affair. An under-12 who had an 8-0
handicap. Karanpal Singh
Played a key role for Otters by winning the fourth
match that went the full distance.
Willingdon Catholic Gymkhana and Otters B will now
play each other for the third position which will be worth Rs.12.500/-.
The team finishing fourth will receive Rs.10,000. Former Australian
cricketer Dean Jones will be the guest of honour at the finals commencing
at 11am.
OTTERS Club A demonstrated their overall strength in
no uncertain terms, while defeating The Leela 3-1 in the Rs.62,500 Royal
Palms handicap team squash tournament, organized by the Indian Squash
Professionals, on Sunday.
The heavy handicap they had to carry proved no
deterrent on the star players in their midst, Manish Chotrani, currently
rated as India’s number one, for instance, gave Saket Wali, one of the
leading youngsters, 10 points and a beating in the opening match.
Karanpal Sethi, an under-12, also pitched in by
defeating Amit who had an eight-point advantage. Professional Santosh More
recorded the other victory for Otters. He beat Subhash Wali who began each
game at 10-love.
Players like Manish Chotrani can be beaten only if
given a handicap of 14 points, opined one player. The Leela were
handicapped by the absence of Deepali Anvekar who was preoccupied with
examinations. Their move to hold back Chandrakant Pawar, one of the top
pros and a tremendous fighter, for the fifth and final match was in vain
as Otters clinched the issue by the fourth match.
The triumph enabled Otters A to bag
the top prize of
Rs.25,000/. They picked up another Rs.10,000/- through Otters B even
though, contrary to exceptions, Otters B lost to recent entrants Willingdon Catholic Gymkhana in the match to decide third place.
In a close encounter Willingdon prevailed 3-2, Sanjay
Goyal winning a key match against Vijay Sonawane who had a six-point
advantage. Rajesh Sonawane (plus six) scored a fine victory over Niraj
Shirgaokar and Sudesh Malik clinched the decider.
Willingdon win
(Article in Times of India, Mumbai : 31/10/1998)
Willingdon Catholic Gymkhana scored a thrilling 3-2
victory over Navi Mumbai sports association to reach the semifinals of the
Rs.62,500 Royal Palms team handicap squash tournament Organized by Indian
squash professionals, at the club’s courts on Friday.
29/10/1998: RPGCC
handicap squash from Oct 31 (Article in Free Press Journal, Mumbai)
Otters Club will field the cream of the players from
Maharashtra for the Rs.62, 500 Royal Palms and Country Club’s Open
Handicap Team squash tournament to be held at the club’s courts in
Goregaon from October 31 to November 1.
Otters Club will be fielding two teams of almost
equal strength in the event. The Otters-A team consists of Manish Chotrani,
who recently won the Dewan Housing title defeating national champion Akhil
Behl in the final, Santosh More, the number one among professionals,
Junaid Nathani, the national under-16 champion, Karanpal Sethi, a
talented under-14 player, Cyrus Poncha a well known coach and Carl
Bokdawala, according to a press release.
Otters-B team consists of Niraj Shirgaokar who led
Maharashtra to victory at the National Inter-State championships, Abhijit
Kukreja, an under-19 semifinalist at the Little Masters that concluded
last Saturday, Arif Patel, Avinash Bhavnani, Vijay Sonawane and Vijay
Bajaj.
Actually, otters had entered five teams but in view
of the tight scheduled and the fact that the tournament has to be
completed in three days, only two have been accepted, according to the
release. For the same reasons only one Jindal team had been accepted out
of the three entered and one each from Navi Mumbai Sports Association and
Willingdon Catholic Gymkhana out of two, the release added.
There are eight teams in the fray out of the 15
entered and thanks to the draw, only one Otters Club team can bid for the
winners purse of Rs.25,000. However, the other side can aspire for the
third prize of Rs.12,500. There are four prizes in all for the eight
teams.
