Mumbai teens Joshi,
Ananya Dabke win as Vikas Mehra loses in Semi-finals of
Dutch open
Mumbai's Neel Joshi and
Ananya Dabke bagged the under-15 boys and girls titles
respectively in the Dutch Open Junior Squash
Championship in Amsterdam, Netherlands.
Girl's Under-15: Finals: Ananya
Dabke beats Serena Daniel (USA) 11-7, 11-4, 12-10
Quarter-Finals: Aishwarya Khubchandani lost to Torrie
Malik (Eng) 0-3 Yoshna Singh lost to Daniel 14-12,
11-9, 12-14, 11-13, 4-11
Tushar Shahani wins U-15 &
Navmi Sharma is runners up in Dutch Junior Open squash
After making an impact in the Pioneer Cup junior
event earlier in Germany, two Indian players made
decisive gains in Netherlands. Tushar Shahani in the
boys’ section and Navmi Sharma in the girls, both U-15
players, did themselves proud by reaching the title
round in the Dutch Junior Open squash event.
Tushar went on to win the boy’s title beating an English
player Oscar Beach in the final and give Indian squash
image a fresh boost in Europe.
On the other hand,
Navmi Sharma had to settle for a runner up spot. Seeded
two, Navmi went down to the top seed Marina Stefanoni in
3 straight games.
After Pioneer Cup title
in Germany, Silver in Iran now Dutch Open silver for
India’s top most junior Yash Fadte: Netherlands (16th
July 2014)
India’s top junior squash
player Yash Fadte went down fighting to top seed Jared
Carter of England to finish runner-up in the boys
under-13 Dutch Junior Open Squash Championship, held at
the Frans Otten Stadion, Amsterdam, Netherlands.
Third seed Fadte, who won the Pioneer Cup title in
Germany last week and the silver in the 21st Asian
Junior Individual Championship in Iran, gave the
European champion and England No 1 a huge scare before
going down 9-11, 11-6, 11-5, 16-14 in a 50-minute
thriller.
Fadte snatched the opening set in a
tight finish and almost forced the decider after
stretching the crucial fourth set well into extra
points.
Goan lad Fadte, a student of St Joseph’s
Institute, Vasco kicked off his campaign with a 11-7,
11-6, 11-7 win over qualifier Maxwell Velasquez of the
US in the first round and overcame another American
Harry Charlton 11-3, 11-9, 14-12 in an exciting second
round.
Fadte went on to beat formidable Toufik
Mekhalfi of France for the second time in two weeks in
the quarter-finals. The Indian, who beat Mekhalfi in the
Pioneer Cup final, scored another 11-4, 12-10, 11-6 win.
In the semi-finals, Fadte shocked second seed and
European No 2 Tamas Devald of Hungary 11-3, 11-1, 11-9
before losing to Carter in the final of the concluding
Super Series event of the European Junior Circuit,
played under the auspices of the European Squash
Federation.
Yuen Tsun became the first
Hong Kong junior men player winning the Under-19 title
of the Super Series ("SS") event of the European Junior
Circuit ("EJC").
Dempo Goodwill Ambassador and
Goan Achiever of the Year 2013 in Sports, Akanksha
Salunkhe won the Dutch Junior Open Squash tournament in
Amsterdam, the Netherlands.
In the finals Akanksha
defeated No 2 seed Sarah Lauridsen from Denmark 3-1
(11-5, 11-6, 9-11, 11-3) to emerge champion.
Almost 400 players from 37
countries participated in this year’s edition of the
Dutch Junior Open, considered to be one of the best
tournaments in Europe and second only to the revered
British Junior Open.
The tournament was held at
the Frans Otten Stadium which is right next to the
Olympic Stadium in Amsterdam.
Eighteen players from India
had travelled to Amsterdam this year for the tournament
and Akanksha’s performance was the best amongst the
Indian contingent thereby bringing the state of Goa on
top. She had stood 17th last year in the same category
of girls U-13.
Other Indians who faired well
include — Aryaman Adik from Mumbai, who stood 2nd in
boys U-15 category after losing to Kyle Finch of England
3-0. He gave a spirited fight at 11-9, 11-2 and 12-10.
Shamika Reddy of Chennai
stood 3rd in girls U-15 category. She won her 3rd place
against Amy Commisso from Canada.
Veer Chotrani from Mumbai
stood 4th in boys U-13 category. He lost to Ali Yacout
from Egypt 3-1 Tushar Shahani from Mumbai stood 5th in
boys U-13 category. He won last match against Jared
Carter from England. Madhav Dhingra from Mumbai stood
5th in boys U-19 category.
FINALS:
Akanksha beat Sarah Lauridsen (Den)11-5, 11-6, 9-11,
11-3.
Chennai: India's Dipika
Pallikal won the Dutch junior Open squash championship in the girls'
under-15 category, beating Nouran Alaa El Torky 9-6, 9-4, 9-3, in the final,
at Amsterdam, on Sunday.
Not dropping a game in the
entire tournament, the top seed defeated Heng Yi Liam (9-0, 9-1, 9-4), Wee
Nee Low (9-0, 9-3, 9-4), Yan Xin Tan (10-8, 9-7, 9-3) and Vidya Rajan (10-8,
9-7, 9-5) before prevailing in the final.
The victory makes it a
hat-trick for the 14-year-old, who had earlier won the title in 2004
(under-13) and 2005 (under-15).
