KG-NECC Mumbai Open Squash Championship
13th April 2006, At Khar Gymkhana, Mumbai

At the prize distribution function of KG-NECC Mumbai Open Squash Championship from L to R standing Ashish Gupta (President, ISP), Gopi Mohite (Winner, Over-35), Sanjay Goyal  (Secretary General, ISP), Sundar Sadhnani (President, Khar Gymkhana), Noreena (Vice-President, ISP), Praveen Jain (Director, NECC), Abdul Shaikh (Squash Coach, Canada), Mahendra Agarwal (Founder Director, ISP), and winners Abhishek Pradhan (Winner in Boys u-15), Sandeep Jangra (Winner in Boys u-19) and Manish Chotrani (Winner in Men's Open). 

Article by Bruno Goveas : 

If there remained any doubt about Manish Chotrani's sway over the game of squash in the city, he dispelled it with a commanding four-game win over Vikas Jangra to lift the men's singles title in the Rs 52,000/- Prize money KG-NECC Mumbai Open Squash Championship, which concluded at the Khar Gymkhana Squash Courts, here on Wednesday. That he still continues to dominate the sport at the age of 35 is a glowing testimony to his squash skills and fitness but also a sad comment on the current crop of emerging squash talent in the city.

Chotrani matched the fitter and younger Jangra from Indian Navy stroke for stroke, racing to  two-game lead, before taking a breather of sorts in the third, which he lost and coming back in the fourth strongly to jut demolish the second-seeded player. Chotrani won 11-8, 11-7, 5-11, 11-4 to pocket the winner's purse of Rs 8,000. It was Chotrani's second major title in four days, having won the ISP-Maharashtra Top 8 event.

Young Sachika Balwani is taking giant steps towards the senior ranks of women's squash in the country. Sachika, who will turn 12 on the 4 ^th of May still possessed enough squash skills and spunk and rout Kiran Mirpuri 11-1, 11-7, 11-1 to lift the women's title.

Sachika, no more the frail lass she was when she began her career, was never in trouble against the taller and physically Mirpuri, aged 26, but a newcomer to the sport. Sachika, who is now off to play in the German Open, took home Rs 4,000 for her troubles.

In the boy's under-19 final, a sudden bout of boredom and complacency seemed to have overcome Vikram Malhotra as he just shut off while leading 8-4 in the second game, after having won the first game 11-9 to end up eventual loser against top seed Sandeep Jangra. Sandeep Jangra prevailed 9-11, 11-9, 11-5, 11-4 to take home the winner's purse of Rs 6,000, while Malhotra hat to be content with Rs 4,000.

Also making heavy weather of his match was Abhishek Pradhan. Against the relative newcomer, Ajan Jayant, playing his first squash final, Pradhan huffed and puffed to a 11-3, 11-8, 13-11 victory. Having come into this match after playing a doubles encounter, Pradhan appeared a bit stiff on court, not having wormed up enough before the match. With his movements on court hampered, and also not totally focused, Jayant was successful in taking points off Pradhan and it was only when he drew level at 11-11 did Pradhan seem to have woken up from his slumber, taking the next two points with kill shots.

The first game between Jangra and Chotrani began at a furious pace, with Jangra racing to a 6-2 lead. However, four continuous shots into the tin helped Chotrani bounce back and Jangra continued making unforced errors to give Chotrani the game. The experienced Chotrani, used all the time he could between points to get his breath back and was content to keep the ball in play, while the impatient and impetuous Jangra kept making the errors to lose the second game too. Jangra did manage to bounce back in the third with some good kills and boasts, a game that Chorines somehow gave up midway, conserving his energy for the fourth, where he was at his best, moving Jangra around and then killing the ball to win points at will. However, his performance was marred somewhat by his incessant arguing with the referee, something not befitting a player of his stature.

All finals : 
Men's: 1-Manish Chotrani bt 2-Vikas Jangra 11-8, 11-7, 5-11, 11-4.

Boys' u-19 : 1-Sandeep Jangra bt 2-Vikram Malhotra 9-11, 11-9, 11-5, 11-4.

Boys' u-15 : 1-Abhishek Pradhan bt Ajan Jayant 11-3, 11-8, 13-11.

Women's : 1-Sachika Balwani bt Kiran Mirpuri 11-1, 11-7, 11-1.

Men's over-35 : 2-Gopi Mohite bt 1-Jahangir Surti 6-11, 4-11, 12-10, 11-6, 11-7

Semifinals : 

Boys u-19 : 
1-Sandeep Jangra bt Karun Kumar 11-1, 11-5, 11-4.
Boys u-15 : 
1-Abhishek Pradhan bt Dheerav Moolani 11-8, 11-3, 11-4; 
Ajan Jayant bt Rikhil Parsram 12-10, 9-11, 11-7, 11-6.

Women's : 
1-Sachika Balwani bt Avani Shetty 11-7, 11-8, 11-5; 
Kiran Mirpuri bt Ashween Anand 11-8, 7-11, 11-5, 11-7.

Quarter finals

Men's : 
1-Manish Chotrani bt Ravneet Singh 11-3, 11-8, 11-7; 
4-Sandeep Jangra bt Vijay Waghela 11-4, 11-7, 9-11, 11-8; 
2-Vikas Jangra bt Dhiraj Nagpal 11-6, 11-3, 11-6.

Boys u-19 : 
Karun Kumar bt Virendra Pawar 12-14, 11-9, 8-11, 11-7, 11-5; 
2-Vikram Malhotra bt Ajaz Shaikh 11-3, 11-5, 14-12.

Boys u-15 : 
1-Abhishek Pradhan bt Agastya Sahstri 11-0, 11-2, 11-3; 
Dheerav Moolani bt Samir Mistry 11-9, 11-4, 11-5.

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Title Sponsor 
NECC Logistics Ltd.

Tournament Director: Shiv Malhotra  

Tournament Co-ordinator: Ashish Gupta 

SRAM Observer: Sanjay Goyal

Tournament Committee: 
Mahendra Agarwal, Ashok Nagpal, Rajesh Rajani, Girish Jadhwani, Riaz Mohammed, Joginder Singh, Vijay Waghela, Vicky Kalludi, Shiv Kumar Dhanuka, A. I. Singh, Noreena Pereira

Ex-Offcio Committee of Khar Gymkhana: 
Sunder Sadhnani (President), Amal Mehta (Vice President), Shyam Karmarkar (Treasurer), Rajesh Mehta (General Secretary), Bharat Ghanshani (General Secretary)

 Under the auspices of: 
Squash Racquets Association of Maharashtra  

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