NEWS LETTER OF THE INDIAN SQUASH PROFESSIONALS Issue No.10
WEBSITE: www.ispsquash.com E-MAIL : squashindia@hotmail.com
DIRECTORS: MAHENDRA AGARWAL/ SUBHASH WALI / NARENDRA GOUR (I.R.S.) CHANDRAKANT
PAWAR.OUR HONORARY MEMBERS: NAVNEET SONI(I.R.S.) / BHARAT BHUSHAN (I.R.S.) / SAIFEE
JANI (M.D. JANI SALES LTD.) / RAJESH LIHALA( M.D. SHIVA MARKETING LTD) / RAKESH LAKHANPAL
(M.D. S.S.KNITTING IND.) MUKESH BABU(CHAIRMAN, MUKESH BABU SECURITIES LTD)
HONOURED PATRONS: VIVEK NAIR (VICE CHAIRMAN & MD THE LEELA) /
SAJJAN JINDAL VICE
CHAIRMAN & M.D. JINDAL GROUP OF COMPANIES)
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Maharashtra had little difficulty retaining their Inter-State squash title in Calcutta in January. The strong Maharashtra team, spearheaded by recently married Niraj Shirgaokar brushed aside Services ’ A’ 3-1 in the final round robin match.
Parth Doshi, who came in place of Saket Wali, played superbly to beat Salil Bisht 4-9, 9-3, 9-6, 9-5 in the opening encounter. Anuj Kalia levelled the tie when he defeated Niraj Shirgaokar in a rousing five-game encounter. Kalia won 8-10, 9-0, 9-3, 6-9, 9-0. Akhil Behl, as expected, brushed aside Rajdeep Brar 9-1, 9-3, 9-7 and Manish Chotrani clinched the issue with a clinical 9-4, 9-3, 9-0 win over Navneet Narain.
Delhi’s Ritwik Bhattacharya made history when he won the men’s title in the Nationals which followed the inter-state event. Bhattacharya had won the under-19 title in the junior nationals in Delhi last year and became one of the few players to win the Junior and Senior National titles in the same year. Bhattacharya dethroned a listless Akhil Behl in the final. Behl, who is presently studying at Trinity College, New York, was woefully out of touch and could not prevent the supremely-fit Bhattacharya from winning the title. Bhattacharya won 9-7, 9-7, 2-9, 9-2.
Mekhala Subedar, who hails from Deolali, won her third women’s title on the trot. In the final, she decimated tennis-turned-squash player Sohini Kumari 9-3, 9-2, 9-1. Sohini is the younger sister of 12-times National champion Bhuvaneshwari Kumari.
Little known Shubhika Bilkha become the first girl to bag the most promising player awardat the 26th Motilal Sanghi Inter-Club sqaush tournament.
Shubika gained the distinction by virtue of her performance in the girls under- 15 event. She surprised her more fancied rivals, Shaila Pandole and Nandita Lall. Shubhika’s rapid rise since she took to the game less than two years ago can perhaps be attributed to her sporting background. She is the daughter of former Indian batsman Yajuvindra Singh. Hopefully, the award will inspire Shubhika to devote more time and energy to squash as she joins a select band of players like Anil Nayyar, Meherwan Daruwala and Adrian Ezra who went on to become national champions and acquitted themselves most creditably at International level.
The tournament attracted entries from 73 juniors, a clear indication of the growing competitive interest among the youth. Barring Siddharth Suchde, the second seed who
upset Mihir Sheth in the boys under 15 event, the top seeds held sway in the other events.
RESULTS: Boys under 13: Karanpal Sethi (Otters) beat Rishab Singhvi (Otters) 9-0, 1-9, 10-8, 9-1 Boys under 15: Siddharth Suchde (CCI) beat Mihir Sheth (CCI) 9-3, 9-5, 9-4. Boys under 17: Junaid Nathani (Otters) beat Mahesh Verma (Jindal) 9-5, 9-4, 9-5. Boys under 19: Parth Doshi (Otters) beat Abhijit Kukreja (Otters) 9-7, 9-6, 3-9, 9-6. Girls under 19: Deepali Anvekar (The Leela) beat Rhea Bhandare (Willingdon) 9-3, 9-2, 9-0.