THE
LEELA – ISP SQUASH CLASSIC (HANDICAP TEAM EVENT)
At Hotel The Leela, Mumbai : 25th July 2004
At the prize
distribution function held in the ball room of Hotel The Leela the
winning Willingdon Catholic Gymkhana team members Jonathan Joshi,
Rakshak Malhotra, Jay Thapa,
Avinash Bhatija,
Bipin Batra & Rajesh Sonawane along with
Puru Rajkumar (Film Actor & Chief Guest) &
Mahendra Agarwal (Founder Director, ISP)
Juhu Gym dump The Leela for
crown (Article in Indian Express, Mumbai : 17/7/2004)
Teenager Abhishek Pradhan
and youngster Sanjay Pawar proved a formidable combination for The Leela,
winning their singles matches respectively, but their efforts were in vain
as their team went down 2-3 to Juhu Gymkhana in the 5th round of
the Rs.20,000 prize money The Leela-ISP Squash Classic, a handicap team
event, organised by the Indian Squash Professionals, at the The Leela, on
Sunday.
Pawar gave The Leela a
winning start with a creditable 15-6, 15-10 victory over Siddharth Samantray,
but Prabhakar Darekar restored parity for the Juhu side with a hard-fought
win over Sahil Shah. Pradhan then put The Leela into the lead once again
with a 15-7, 15-13, 15-12 win over Ashish Mehta, but both Ramesh Dande and
Gautam Kakani lost their matches to Kalpesh Mehta and Anil Mohite
respectively to give Juhu Gymkhana victory.
The Leela, Otters Khar Gym, WCG
in Semi finals (Article in Free Press Journal, Mumbai : 21/7/2004)
After six weeks of
intense and exciting squash, The Leela, Otters Club, Khar Gymkhana and
Willingdon Catholic Gymkhana booked their berths in the semi finals of the
Rs.20,000 prize money The Leela-ISP Squash Classic, a handicap team event,
organised by Indian Squash Professionals, at the glass back squash court of
The Leela, on Sunday.
While The Leela defeated
Juhu Vile Parle Gymkhana 3-1 to set up a last four clash with Willingdon
Catholic Gymkhana, Otters Club were served well by Cyrus Appoo, Vijay
Sonawane and Mohammed Merchant, who won their Individual encounters to carve
a 3-1 win over Hyatt Regency. Coming through to meet Otters in the round of
four was Khar Gymkhana, who brushed aside the challenge of Navi Mumbai
Sports Club 3-1.
After Tushar Bhambani had
lost the opening encounter to Brain Sopher of Hyatt, it was Cyrus Appoo and
Vijay Sonawane who won their Hillary Fernandes respectively to put Otters in
the lead. Mohammed Merchant then defeated Oawan Poddar 15-10, 15-13 to seals
the issue in Otter’s favour.
Sonawane
rescues WCG (Article in Mid-day, Mumbai : 26/7/2004)
A Sizeable handicap,
added to the years of playing experience as a professional tilted the scales
in Willingdon Catholic Gymkhana player Rajesh Sonawane’s favour, who won the
decider 15-11, 7-15, 15-11 against Khar Gymkhana’s Rohan Gracious and gave
his team the title in the Rs.20,000 prize money The Leela-ISP Squash
Classic, a handicap team event, organised by the The Leela, yesterday.
After the teams were tied
2-2 in the final, a first game handicap of 8 points to Sonawane did seem a
bit unfair to his rival, who did well to reduce the gap to 10-11 before
slackening off and losing 11-15. A reduced handicap of 4 in the second game
saw the old warhorse Sonawane play some loose shots and hand the game to
Gracious on a platter, forcing the organizer to once again raise the
handicap to 6 for the decider. It was here that Sonawane showed his true
colours.
Gracious fell prey to
Sonawane’s hustling tactics, and though he managed to reduce the margin to 3
points at 8-11, Sonawane came up with some brilliant winners to keep inching
ahead.
By the time Gracious
decided to throw caution to the winds and go for his Winners, it was too
late and he could not help the defending champions retain their title.
However, there was solace for Khar Gymkhana in the semi-finals as they
routed Otters Club 3-0 for a place in the title round.
Rajani
are in Khar Gymkhana (Article in Times of India, Mumbai : 9/6/2004)
Rajesh Rajani downed
Rahil Shah 15-10, 15-13 to help Khar Gymkhana secure a 3-2 victory over The
Leela in the first round of the Rs.20,000 prize money The Leela-ISP Squash
Classic, handicap team event, organised by the Indian Squash Professionals
(ISP), under the auspices of the Squash Racquets Association of Maharashtra
(SRAM), played at the glass-back squash court of The Leela on Sunday.
