Boys under
11:
1-
Ishaan Advani (Cathedral & John Cannon) bt 2-Raghav Mehrotra (Cathedral
& John Connon)11-8, 11-5, 11-6;
4-Arjun Kochhar (Cathedral &John Cannon) bt 3-Aviroop Ghosal (Hiranandani
foundation)11-6, 11-0, 11-8.
Boys under
13:
1-Abhishek Pradhan (Don Bosco High School) bt Vardhan Ladiwala 11-3,11-3,
11-0.
2-Mahesh Mangaonkar (Don Bosco High School) bt Caran Arora (Cathedral
& John Cannon) 11-6,11-8,11-4.
Pradhan
reigns Supreme (Article
in Indian Express, Mumbai : 11/2/2006)
Abhisek Pradhan and Mahesh Mangaonkar are the best of
friends, going to the same school and studying in the same class, but put
the two on a squash court against each other and there’s no quarter given
as they strive to get the better of each other. In other and of the
several battles between the two, top seed Pradhan of Don Bosco, Borivali,
prevailed over schoolmate Mangaonkar in five games to lift the boys
under-13 title in the inaugural SBI MSSA Inter-Schools Squash Tournament,
organised by the Indian Squash Professionals at the glass backed courts of
the CCI, here, on Saturday.
In the other finals, top seed Ishan Advani of
Cathdral & John Connon was an easy winner over fourth seeded schoolmate
Arjun Kochhar, while unseeded Viraj Nayar of Bombay International
continued his good form to get the better of St. Mary’s ICSE’s Ness
Billimoria, also in straight games.
The girls under-13 title was lifted by top seed
Soumya Karki of Hiranandani Foundation, who dropped a game before getting
the better of Arya Vidya Mandir’s Ankita Sharma 11-8, 11-4, 10-11, 11-4.
Pradhan
Punch
Abhishek
adds spice to schools squash tourney (Article
in Mid-Day, Mumbai : 9/2/2006)
Abhishek Pradhan eased past Mishaal Nathani in
straight games 11-2, 11-5, and 11-0 and later crushed Ajan Jayant 11-2,
11-2, 11-3 to reach the quarter finals of the Inter-Schools SBI-MSSA
Squash tournament that got under way at Cricket Club of India yesterday.
The 12 year old got a dream start to the inaugural
edition of the tournament by knocking out both his opponents inside 15
minutes. “I was confident enough about winning and restrained myself from
committing any unforced error,” said Abhishek.
The Don Bosco (Borivali) player is yards away from
his competitors with the exception of Mahesh Mangaonkar. He has already
pocketed the Chennai U-13 National Squash Open in 2005 and was second in
the Scottish Open at Edinburgh.
“I want to win the British Open this year and visit
Pakistan. After all, legends like Jansher Khan and Jahangir Khan come from
Pakistan, “ said Abhishek.
“Abhishek has raw material that needs to be moulded
well. He is intelligent, fit, powerful and hardworking,” said coach Amitoj
Inder Singh.
“Mahesh used to beat Abhishek frequently, but from
last year he has got the better of Mahesh.”
Singh went a step further in praise of Abhishek who
is likely to meet Mahesh in the finals. “Abhishek and Mahesh are much
better players than Ritwik Bhattacharya and Sourav Ghosal were at this age
level.” In the boy’s under-11 and nine categories, leading players Ishaan
Advani and Aviroop Ghosal recorded easy victories to advance into the
third round. While Advani brushed aside Aditya Singh 11-3, 11-2, 11-3,
Ghosal defeated Purav Mehta 11-2, 11-4, 11-9.
Squash
joins the school sports family (Article
in Times of India, Mumbai : 10/2/2006)
Mumbai Schools Sports Association secretary Shaji
Kuttiani wasn’t too concerned that entries for the first ever MSSA
inter-school squash tournament didn’t top the hundred mark. “ We took a
late decision to include squash in schools sports. Many schools sports.
Many schools may not have had the time to plan it. But that’s what happens
when we take a new sport.”
Eight five kids from 12 schools are taking part in
the event being conducted on behalf of MSSA by Indian Squash
Professionals.
Kuttiani said the association had taken a new sport
in after nearly four years Squash is the 19th discipline
conducted by the body. Shaji was confident the numbers would increase.
“Judo, which concluded on Wednesday, had 600 entries. Taekwondo is next
in line. We will take a decision later in the year.”
The Airtel schools event also conducted by the ISP at
Khar Gymkhana, had over 250 entries. There were over 200 schoolkids, the
rest being junior college players. The bigger number is because it was a
West Zone event and they had under-17 and under 19 groups also.
Here there are under-11, 13 and 15. The rreason for
lower numbers is that not all the schools of the players who played in the
earlier event are affiliated to the MSSA. For example Jindal, from Vasind
who alone had about 60 players.
Of the matches on quarter final day, No.2 seed in the
under-15, Sanmeet Singh was put out by Aatish Chhabria 11-9, 7-11, 5-11,
11-7, 11-4. Another No.2 to bow out was Don Bosco’s Kunj Rawani who lost
to Aviroop Ghosal, ranked one rung lower. Kunj has been doing well at the
under-9 level but he has been pitted in the 9-11 group.
Nayar
sends Merchant packing
Ankita
extends her-to-head win count over Sachika (Article
in Indian Express, Mumbai : 11/2/2006)
Top see Pranay Merchant of Bombay International and
second seed Sachika Balwani of Bombay Scottish were the biggest casualties
in the semi finals of the SBI MSSA first Inter Schools Squash Tournament,
at CCI on Friday.
While Pranay Merchant lost in five games to unseeded
Viraj Nayar of Bombay International, the fancied Sachika lost to her long
time nemesis Ankita Sharma Arya Vidya Mandir. Sachika and Ankita have been
involed in quite a few close matches on court for the past two years or
so, but of late Ankita seems to be getting the better of her fancied
opponents more often than not.
In the semi finals, Ankita won 11-5, 12-10, 11-6 to
set up a title clash with top seed Saumya Karki of Hiranandani Foundation,
who was taken the distance by schoolmate Shreya Khatri before winning
11-5, 5-11, 11-6, 5-11, 1-8.
Merchant, who took the first two games at a canter,
winning 11-6, 11-8, was taken by surprise by the grit and gumption of
Viraj, who just refused to buckle down. The top seed lost the fourth game
7-11 and sadly gave up the contest in the decider losing it 1-11. In the
final, Viraj will take on St. Mary’s ICSE’s Ness Billimoria.
Saumya’s
tryst with history (Article
in Mid-Day, Mumbai : 12/2/2006)
Over a one and half hour drive from Thane to Cricket
Club of India (near the Churchgate station) proved pleasant for
Hiranandani Foundation student Saumya Karki after she defeated Ankita
Sharma of Arya Vidya Mandir (Juhu) 3-1 (11-8, 11-4, 15-17, 11-4)
yesterday.
The win ensured that Saumya became first girl to
clinch the MSSA-SBI interschool squash tournament yesterday.
Saumya eased past Ankita in the first two games.
However, Ankita was inspired in the third game. Down
4-7, she came back to win 17-15 in a game that stretched for about half an
hour. When it seemed the match would have a close finish, Saumya ended
speculations by clinching the fourth game quite easily.
ALL’s well that ends well. After two one sided boy’s
finals, the first edition of MSSA-SBI inter-school squash tournament ended
with a thrilling encounter between Don Bosco (Borivali) students Abhishek
Pradhan and Mahesh Mangaonkar.
Abhishek defeated Mahesh 3-2 (11-7, 6-11, 9-11, 11-8,
11-8) to claim the under-13 boy’s championship.
64th 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
