Click here for more photographs

All Results : 

Finals

Otters Club (B) beat Khar Gymkhana (B) 3-2
Santosh More bt Kishore Vanware 12-15,15-8,15-11
Tushar Bambani bt Girish Jadhwani 15-8,10-15,15-12
Supreet Singh lost to Ashish Gupta 6-15,12-15
Yogin Thakur lost to Shiv Malhotra 9-15,15-10,12-15
Avinash Bhavnani bt Suraj Shetty 15-13,4-15,15-8

3rd and 4th place:
Otters Club (A) beat Khar Gymkhana 3-2
Vijay Sonawane lost to Amitpal Kohli 10-15,15-12,13-15
Anurag Gill bt Rajesh Rajani 11-15,15-12,15-10
Cyrus Apoo bt Saket Wali 15-14,10-15,17-16
Karan Bhatty lost to Rohan Gracious 15-13, 13-15,14-15
Sanjay Pawar bt Avinash Bhatija 11-15,15-13,15-13.

Semi-Finals

Otters Club (B) Beat Khar Gymkhana (A) 3-2
Santosh More lost Saket Wali 9-15, 15-14, 7-15
Tushar Bambani bt Avinash Bhatija 15-7, 6-15, 15-8
Supreet Singh lost Amitpal Kohli 10-15, 15-10, 13-15
Yogin Thakur bt Rajesh Rajani 15-14, 11-15, 15-9
Avinash Bhavnani bt Rohan Gracias 15-11, 12-15, 15-9

Khar Gymkhana (B) beat Otters (A) 3-1
Ashish Gupta bt Cyrus Apoo 15-13, 15-12
Kaushal Ghanshani bt Sanjay Pawar 15-12, 10-15, 15-9
Girish Jadhwni lost Anurag Gill 10-15, 15-9, 14-17
Shiv Malhotra bt Vijay Sonawane 15-7, 10-15, 15-9

Quarter Finals

Otters Club (A) Beat Mandpeshwar Club 3-1
Sanjay Pawar Bt Bhuvan Vora 15-13, 13-15, 15-17
Cyrus Apoo Bt Sunil D'souza 61-5, 15-11, 15-12
Vijay Sonawane Lost to Gopi Mohite 15-13, 8-15, 10-15
Karan Bhatty Bt Chirag Soni 15-13, 1-16

Otters Club (B) Beat Khar Gymkhana (C) 3-1
Tushar Bambani Bt Aditya Shastri 15-10, 15-13
Santosh More Lost to Kartik Gaba 13-15, 15-13, 12-15
Karl Bokdawala Bt Dhiraj Nagpal 12-15, 15-9, 15-9
Yogin Thakur Bt Kunal Jani 15-10, 12-15, 15-10

Khar Gymkhana (B) Beat Willingdon Catholic Gymkhana (A)  3-2
Girish Jadhwani Bt Bipin Batra 15-7, 11-15, 15-12
Suraj Shetty Lost to Jay Thapa 8-15, 12-15
Kaushal Ghanshani Bt Allwyn Noronha 9-15, 15-10, 15-14
Kishor Vanware Lost to Rajesh Sonwane 13-15, 11-15
Ashish Gupta Bt Rakshak Malhotra 15-12, 7-15, 15-13

Khar Gymkhana (A) Beat Willingdon Catholic Gymkhana (B) 3-1
Amitpal Kohli Bt Aditya Manjrekar 10-15, 17-14, 17-14
Rajesh Rajani Lost to Jonathon Joshi 15-14, 15-13
Avinash Bathija Bt Prashant Mehra 17-16, 15-12
Saket Wali Bt Sandeep Parab 10-15, 15-12, 17-14

All Press Articles of the Tournament

Otters claim Leela-ISP title
(Artilce in Times Of India, Mumbai : 17/7/2002)

Otters Club ‘B’ made light of an average handicap of eight points per game to overcome Khar Gymkhana ‘B’ to clinch the Rs 25,000 prize money ISP- Leela Handicap Masters Squash Tournament at the glass-back courts of the The Leela.

Otters, who clinched the Motilal Sanghi title opened up a 2-0 lead over Khar Gym, through wins by professional Santosh More and Tushar Bambani. However, the old brigade of Ashish Gupta and Shiv Malhotra brought Khar back into the reckoning with victories over Supreet Singh and Yogin Thakur.

In the decider Khar Gym’s Suraj Shetty too the second game against Avinash Bhavnani when he had a handicap of plus 9.  In the decider the handicap was revised to six and Bhavnani, who got most of the returns in the forecourt finished off the rallies to clinch the title for Otters.

In the match for third place, Otters Club ‘A’ defeated Khar Gym A 3-2.

The winners took home Rs 6,000, with the runners-up settling for Rs 4,000.

There was an exhibition match between two tiny tots- five-and-a-half old Nisarg Gagrani  and four-and-a-half year-old Harsh Hemani, which was won by the former.

Bhushan Gagrani, deputy secretary to the chief minister, and a keen squash player himself, gave away the prizes. He lauded the efforts of the Indian Squash Professionals, led by Mahendra Agarwal, who had conducted some 42 tournaments in the last ten years, including The Leela handicap for the last ten years. He hoped teams from downtown would join in and make it more interesting.
 

Second strings steal a march in Leela – ISP Squash
(Article in Free Press Journal, Mumbai : 10/7/2002)

In a strange case of the second string players outdoing their more fancied counterparts, the B teams of Otters Club and Khar Gymkhana made it to the final of the Rs.25,000 prize money The Leela – ISP Handicap Masters Squash Tournament. 

In the semi finals played at the glass-backed courts of The Leela at Andheri, Otters Club B defeated Khar Gymkhana A 3-2, while the second string of Khar Gymkhana returned the compliments with an impressive 3-1 victory over Otters Club A. 

It was Avinash Bhavnani who clinched the decider for the Otters Club B after both team were locked 2-2. Bhavnani scored a 15-11, 1215, 15-9 victory over Rohan Gracious to seal the issue in his team’s favour. 

In the other semi-final, Avinash Gupta, Kaushal Ghanshani and Shiv Malhotra won their respective matches for a 3-1 victory over Otters A, the sole win for the losers coming through Anurag Gill. 

Willingdon Gymkhana ‘A’ Win
(Article in Free Press Journal, Mumbai : 18/6/2002)

It was a very successful Sunday for Willingdon Catholic Gymkhana ‘C’ as they both won two matches a piece in the Rs.25,000 prize money Leela-ISP Handicap Team Squash Tournament at The Leela glass-backed squash courts. 

Centaur ‘B’ and Andheri Sports Complex were the two teams to end up on the losing side 

Allwyn Noronha and .Douglas Goudinho played key role for WCG, winning their matches in both encounters, while Bipin Batra played the support  role. 

For Khar Gym ‘C’ it was talented teenager Vikram Malhotra defeated Joginder Singh in the match against Andheri Sports Complex and lost to Vicky Kalludi in the match against Centaur ‘B’ Also coming good for Gym ‘C’ was Kanika Premnarayan. 

Advantages of being a handicap
(Article in Mid-Day, Mumbai : 08/07/2002)

A HANDICAP squash tournament is mostly viewed as a social pass time for the elite who play the game with a certain touch of competitiveness or for that matter players who are over the 'hill’. 

But those who participated in the Leela handicap squash tournament yesterday had a different story to tell. 

“The handicap system is ideal to encourage more people into the game,” said Avinash Bhavnani, captain of Otters Club ‘B’.  “Since the weak player starts off well ahead in points than his physically and technically stronger opponent, he is better placed psychologically and is in a position to give his best to win.” 

Providing the encouragement and incentive to the weaker players pitted against the better players at the wrong end of the handicap and they ended up paying the price in most cases.  Deserving candidates like Vijay Sonawane and Sanjay Pawar of Otters ‘A’ bit the dust against captain Shiv Malhotra and Kaushal Ghanshani of Khar Gym ‘B’ respectively. 

“The handicap aspect of the game brings both the players at partly,” Malhotra informed.  “From there on, it all depends on one’s temperament and mental ability to rally back from a hostile position.” 

“Playing such tournaments is essential for those who play competitive squash since it creates a situation where a better player is forced to fight his way from being down from the beginning of the match itself.  It builds up a sound temperament which is very important while playing somewhere higher up,” Malhotra added.

Khar Gym bag both ties
(Article in Indian Express, Mumbai : 27/07/2002)

THE second string of Khar Gymkhana proved too strong for The Leela and Mandpeshwar Club, Borivali, winning both their matches in the Rs. 25,000 prize money.  The Leela-ISP Handicap Team Squash Tournament played at the glass-backed squash courts of The Leela. 

For Khar Gymkhana it was Shiv Malhotra and Kishore Vanware who played crucial roles, winning both their matches.  For The Leela, veteran pro Chandrakant Pawar waged a lone battle, winning both his encounters, but with no support from his teammates, failed to get secure victory for the team. 

The Leela are now out of the competition, while Khar Gym B and Mandpeshwar Club advanced to the quarter-finals. 

Sanket, Amitpal shine
(Article in Free Press Journal, Mumbai : 13/06/2002)

STATE players Saket Wali and Amitpal Kohli did the star turn for Khar Gymkhana ‘A’, who won both their encounters in the 25,000 prize money Leela-ISP Handicap Team Squash Tournament, at the glass-backed squash courts of The Leela. 

Wali won both his matches as Khar Gymkhana first defeated Otters Club ‘B’ 3-0 and then accounted for Andheri Sports Complex, also by the same margin.  In the first match against Otters ‘B’ Wali dropped a game to Santosh More before winning 15-10 9-15, 15-14.  Rajesh Rajani  and Avinash Bhatija also scored over Cyrus Warden and Yogin Thakur, respectively to complete Khar Gymkhana’s victory. 

Against Andheri Sports Complex, Wali defeated Chandan Jadhav in three games before Amitpal  Kohli and Rohan Gracias completed the formalities with wins over Adesh Gamare and Pratik Zaveri respectively.

42nd Tournament Organised by ISP