41st Maharashtra State
Open Squash Championship 2016
Organised & Hosted by Bombay Gymkhana: 13th to 17th
August 2016
Hat-trick for Mangaonkar
Defending champion and men’s top seed Mahesh Mangaonkar overcame second seed
Ravi Dixit to clinch the men’s crown for the third time in a
row, in the JSW 41st Bombay Gymkhana Maharashtra State Open Squash Championships.
39th Maharashtra State
Open Junior
Squash Championship 2014
Organised & Hosted by Bombay Gymkhana: 4th to 7th
September
Megha, Vivaan, Aryaman supreme in 39th
Bombay Gymkhana Maharashtra State Open Junior Squash Championship
Top seeds Megha Bhatia, Vivaan Shah and fourth seed Aryaman Adik
snatched thrilling deciders to emerge champions, in the 39th Bombay Gymkhana
Maharashtra State Open Junior Squash Championship, sponsored by Mahindra
Lifespaces.
Vivaan Shah kicked off an exciting day of championship
rounds that also saw four other top seeds upset when he endured a late
challenge to overcome second seed Yuvraj Wadhwani after leading 2-0, for the
under-9 crown.
Megha Bhatia of Maharashtra also lived dangerously
against second seed Jannia Singh of Chandigarh after rallying from 1-2 to
snatch the decider at 15-13 for the girls under-13 title, in the most
gripping finish.
Aryaman Adik of Maharashtra also rallied from 1-2 to
stun top seed Abhay Singh of Tamil Nadu to help himself to the boys under-17
title.
In other finals, girls under-15 top seed Aakanksha Rao lost to
second seed Diya Joukani, girls under-17 top seed Aishwarya Bhattacharya of
Maharashtra went down to second seed Akanksha Salunkhe of Goa and boys
under-19 top seed Aishwarya Singh lost to fourth seed Yohan Pandole.
Maharashtra trio Aakash Gupta, Aishwarya Khubchandani and Chaitanya Shah and
Yash Fadte of Goa were the other top seeds who won their respective titles
and lived up to their reputations.
World no 15 and men's top seed Saurav Ghosal and
women's no. 1 seed Joshna Chinappa toyed with their respective rivals to
defend their titles successfully in the 38th Bombay Gymkhana-HSBC
Maharashtra State Open Senior Squash Championship.
Ghosal outclassed
world no 80 and second seed Harinderpal Singh Sandhu in straight games 11-4
11-6 11-5 in the men's final that lasted 40 minutes to take home the
winner's prize of Rs 1.3 lakh.
World no. 26 Joshna thumped Aishwarya
Bhattacharya, conqueror of second seed and last year's runner-up Urwashi
Joshi in the semis, 11-1 11-1 11-3 in a lop-sided women's title clash that
lasted just 20 minutes to win Rs 70,000.
The only time the
Kolkata-based Ghosal, winner of the individual as well as team bronze at the
last Asian Games in Guangzhou, looked in some bother was when he trailed 2-5
in the third game.
He then stepped up the pace of the rallies and won
9 points in a row, hitting a backhand winner from the fore court with his
rival Harinderpal watching helplessly from the other side of the court, at
match-ball to finish the job.
"I played clinically and Harry must be
pretty disappointed that he made quite a few errors. But it was tough for
both of us at the end of a tiring season," said the 27-year-old Ghosal who
created history this season at Manchester by reaching the quarter finals of
the world championships.
Ghosal said he and Harinderpal will take
some rest before resuming his stint in the world pro circuit by taking part
in the USD 115,000 tournament of champions, featuring the top 24 players, at
New York starting January 17.
"Harry has nothing scheduled till
February and he too has time to train without concentrating on playing any
tournament," the triumphant player said.
Joshna said she was keen to
play in the tournament as it was through such tournaments in her formative
years that she grew up in the sport.
"These events also help me to
keep fit and improve my ranking when the new season starts," she said.
(pl note as senior nationals were also played at Bombay Gymkhana so
Maharashtra State Open Championship were restricted to Boys and Girls
category only)
